tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80581308961239901432024-03-13T05:34:10.397+03:00Africa News OnlineFor Balanced NewsAfrica News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.comBlogger2873125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-21072904548827035532013-11-12T15:24:00.003+03:002013-11-12T15:24:14.581+03:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h6 class="kicker" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">
EDITORIAL</h6>
<h1 class="articleHeadline" itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 2.4em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.083em; margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0">Kenya and the International Criminal Court</nyt_headline></h1>
<h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 2px 0px;">
By <span itemid="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/opinion/editorialboard.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/opinion/editorialboard.html" rel="author" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by THE EDITORIAL BOARD">THE EDITORIAL BOARD</a></span></h6>
<h6 class="dateline" style="background-color: white; color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px;">
Published: November 9, 2013</h6>
<div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic articleShareToolsTop shareToolsInstance" data-description="Two Kenyan leaders charged with crimes against humanity for the violence in 2007-8 that killed more than 1,100 people are doing everything they can to discredit the court." data-shares="facebook,twitter,google,save,email,showall|Share,print,singlepage,reprints,ad" data-title="Kenya and the International Criminal Court" data-url="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/kenya-and-the-international-criminal-court.html" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; float: right; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10.399999618530273px; line-height: 15px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px; min-height: 200px; width: 134px;">
<div class="shareToolsBox" style="border: 1px solid rgb(234, 232, 233); margin: 0px; position: relative;">
<ul class="shareToolsList" style="list-style: none; margin: 4px 6px 0px; padding-left: 0px;">
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemFacebook firstItem" data-share="facebook" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/facebook.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">FACEBOOK</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemTwitter" data-share="twitter" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/twitter.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">TWITTER</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemGoogle" data-share="google" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/google.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">GOOGLE+</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemSave" data-share="save" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/save/icons/saveicon_standard.png); background-position: 0px 2px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">SAVE</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemEmail" data-share="email" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/email.gif); background-position: 1px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">E-MAIL</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemShowall" data-share="showall" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/share-all.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">SHARE</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemPrint" data-share="print" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/kenya-and-the-international-criminal-court.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/print.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px; text-decoration: none;">PRINT</a></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemReprints" data-share="reprints" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; padding: 5px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/sharetools/classic/reprints.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 22px;">REPRINTS</span></li>
<li class="shareToolsItem shareToolsItemAd Frame4A lastItem" data-share="ad" id="Frame4A" style="background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 8px 0px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day&pos=Frame4A&sn2=72270860/53be7632&sn1=3b2738d5/6bee4c6&camp=NYT5-FOX_SEARCHLIGHT_ATJD13-1849323G-nyt5&ad=12YAS_NYT5_96x60.gif&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2F12yearsaslave%2F" style="background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="60" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/35/47/ad.354716/12YAS_NYT5_96x60.gif" style="border: none; font-size: 1em;" width="96" /></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10.399999618530273px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;">
<span itemid="http://www.nytimes.com" itemprop="copyrightHolder provider sourceOrganization" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization"></span><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em;">
Two Kenyan leaders charged with crimes against humanity have retaliated with an all-out attack on the International Criminal Court. Although Kenya is a court member, and President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto have agreed to cooperate, they are doing everything they can to discredit the institution by accusing it of racial bias and of being a Western tool.</div>
</nyt_text></div>
<div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; display: inline; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10.399999618530273px; line-height: 15px; margin: 6px 15px 10px 0px !important; width: 190px;">
<div class="columnGroup doubleRule" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; padding-top: 12px; width: auto !important;">
<h3 class="sectionHeader" style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2857em; margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
Today's Editorials</h3>
<ul class="headlinesOnly multiline flush" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px;">
<li style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/reality-sets-in.html?ref=sunday" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Editorial: Reality Sets In</a>(November 10, 2013)</h6>
</li>
<li style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/still-dangerous.html?ref=sunday" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Editorial: Still Dangerous</a>(November 10, 2013)</h6>
</li>
<li style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/the-other-paris-beyond-the-boulevards.html?ref=sunday" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Editorial | Sunday Observer: The Other Paris, Beyond the Boulevards</a>(November 10, 2013)</h6>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<nyt_byline style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10.399999618530273px; line-height: 15px;"></nyt_byline><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10.399999618530273px; line-height: 15px;"></span><br />
<div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10.399999618530273px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;">
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Let’s be clear: The court has the case because Kenyans refused to initiate their own process to ensure accountability for the victims of the violence that followed the 2007 election, when mobs went on a rampage, killing, raping and setting fire to homes and businesses. More than 1,100 people died in the ethnic clashes. They are the real victims here, and they deserve justice.</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
An African Union panel, led by Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, mediated an end to the crisis, and a Kenyan inquiry commission concluded that at least some violence was organized with the aid of businessmen and politicians. The commission called for a special tribunal to bring those responsible to account. If that didn’t happen, it said, the case should be turned over to the International Criminal Court. After the Kenyan Parliament twice rejected proposals to create a tribunal, the case went to the I.C.C. prosecutor, who charged six people with crimes against humanity — among them Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Ruto, who were leaders of rival political parties in 2007-8 and have since joined forces.</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
The charge of racism against the I.C.C., while specious, has a certain appeal: Of the eight cases brought by the court, all involve African states. There are indeed real questions about why charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity have not been pressed elsewhere — in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Still, serious abuses occurred in each of the African cases now before the court, and they need to be adjudicated.</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
While the court may be flawed, it is the last resort to deliver justice for victims of conflict in countries that lack the capacity or will to do so themselves. Last May, the African Union passed a resolution accusing the court of targeting Africans. What it really should have focused on, and applauded, is that the court is also defending Africans, including the 1,100 Kenyans slaughtered in 2007-8.</div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-21155545697379425482013-11-10T17:57:00.001+03:002013-11-10T18:04:33.838+03:00MY LIFE TOO IS IN DANGER, MR. MUTHAMA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="gE iv gt" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; cursor: auto; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px; padding: 10px 0px 3px;">
<table cellpadding="0" class="cf gJ" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-top: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody>
<tr class="acZ" style="height: 16px;"><td class="gF gK" style="margin: 0px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap; width: 235.3333282470703px;"><table cellpadding="0" class="cf ix" style="border-collapse: collapse; table-layout: fixed; width: 235.3333282470703px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="margin: 0px;"><div class="iw" style="display: inline-block; max-width: 92%; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="gD" email="fidelwangai@yahoo.com" name="Fidel Wangai" style="color: #222222; display: inline; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> By Fidel Wangai</span> </span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td><td class="gH" style="color: #222222; margin: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;"><div class="gK" style="padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span alt="Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 1:53 PM" class="g3" id=":1e4" style="margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: top;" title="Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 1:53 PM">1:53 PM (3 hours ago)</span></span><br />
<div aria-checked="false" aria-label="Starred" class="zd" role="checkbox" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 20px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="-1">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="T-KT" style="display: inline-block; height: 19px; margin: -4px 0px; padding: 2px; text-align: center; width: 19px;"><img alt="" class="f T-KT-JX" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
</td><td class="gH" style="color: #222222; margin: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;"></td><td class="gH acX" rowspan="2" style="color: #222222; margin: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div aria-label="Reply" class="T-I J-J5-Ji T-I-Js-IF aaq T-I-ax7 L3" data-tooltip="Reply" role="button" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; -webkit-user-select: none; background-color: whitesmoke; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgb(245, 245, 245), rgb(241, 241, 241)); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); box-shadow: none; color: #444444; cursor: default; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; height: 27px; line-height: 27px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -8px; min-width: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 8px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 1;" tabindex="0">
<span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" class="hB T-I-J3" role="button" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="background-image: url(https://ssl.gstatic.com/mail/sprites/general-f471e1516770e9528f3dcf0a635516de.png); background-position: 0px -191px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 21px; margin-top: -3px; opacity: 0.55; vertical-align: middle; width: 21px;" /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<div class="T-I J-J5-Ji T-I-Js-Gs aap T-I-awG T-I-ax7 L3" id=":1da" role="button" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; background-color: whitesmoke; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgb(245, 245, 245), rgb(241, 241, 241)); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); box-shadow: none; color: #444444; cursor: default; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; height: 27px; line-height: 27px; margin-left: -1px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -8px; min-width: 21px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 1;" tabindex="0" title="More">
<span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" class="hA T-I-J3" role="menu" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="background-image: url(https://ssl.gstatic.com/mail/sprites/general-f471e1516770e9528f3dcf0a635516de.png); background-position: 0px -66px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 21px; margin-top: -3px; opacity: 0.55; vertical-align: middle; width: 21px;" /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></td></tr>
<tr class="acZ xD" style="height: 16px;"><td colspan="3" style="margin: 0px;"><table cellpadding="0" class="cf adz" style="border-collapse: collapse; table-layout: fixed; white-space: nowrap; width: 396.6666564941406px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="ady" style="margin: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="iw ajw" style="display: inline-block; max-width: 92%; overflow: hidden;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="hb" style="color: #777777; vertical-align: top;">to <span class="g2" dir="ltr" email="letters@the-star.co.ke" name="letters" style="vertical-align: top;">letters</span>, <span class="g2" dir="ltr" email="jerryokungu@gmail.com" name="me" style="vertical-align: top;">me</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<div aria-haspopup="true" class="ajy" style="display: inline-block; margin-left: 5px; vertical-align: top;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" aria-label="Show details" class="ajz" data-tooltip="Show details" id=":1d9" role="button" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="background-image: url(https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&view=dim&iv=17s2paofw8o0p&it=ic); background-position: -60px -100px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; height: 12px !important; padding: 0px 0px 1px; vertical-align: bottom; width: 12px !important;" /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="utdU2e" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
</div>
<div class="tx78Ic" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
</div>
<div class="aHl" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-left: -30px;">
</div>
<div id=":1d8" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" tabindex="-1">
</div>
<div class="ii gt m14241a4ff95fff53 adP adO" id=":1e0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin: 5px 15px 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; position: relative; z-index: 0;">
<div id=":1e8" style="overflow: hidden;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That was my reaction when I saw the Senator for Mayakos, Johnstone Muthama claim that his rich life is in danger. What is the big deal with his life? Our lives are all in danger.<br /><br />The difference between his danger and mine is that whereas his is as a result of his "POLITICAL STAND", mine is due to my POVERTY KNEELING. Yes I am living on my knees hoping I will die on my feet someday.<br /><br />See, unlike Johnstone Muthama and his rich boyfriends, I am not entitled to 24hr ARMED PROTECTION from personal bodyguards. Unlike him, my rural home is not assigned an armed AP round the clock. Unlike him, I cannot afford to erect a perimeter wall with razor wire, electric fencing, alarms, motion detectors and private guards. We get raped, robbed and murdered daily budah.<br /><br />Unlike Muthama, I ride in public transport. I jump into the available matatu and have no rights to demand to see the driver's qualifications, something Muthama does when recruiting his personal driver. Most likely he will drive me straight into another vehicle or decide to park the bus across the railway line.<br /><br />Unlike Muthama whose state-of-the-art vehicles are serviced at the Dealer, our masekete matatus are sodomised at Grogon by a guy who learnt the trade simply by looking at someone who also learnt by looking at someone who also...<br /><br />Unlike yours Muthama which never gets stopped, our overloaded matatu or probox will be stopped by a traffic cop who will trade our lives for as little as 50 bloody shillings.<br /><br />Unlike you Muthama, should you get sick, you will be flown to foreign hospitals for treatment. Meanwhile, Zack had attempted to wheelchair himself all the way to South Africa to raise funds for the construction of a spinal cord injuries centre because the Gov't cared less.<br /><br />We saw the two former Ministers for Health (and currently your fellow senators) going to America for cancer treatment, didn't we? I am in danger of understaffed and ill-equipped public hospitals because I cannot afford private ones.<br /><br />Unlike Muthama who can afford anything he wants, I am denied opportunities, frustrated and oppressed by the regime of tyranny and petty politics. My life is in danger of poverty, underemployment, stress, everything.<br /><br />We heard you wanted to stop Governor Mutua from initiating development programs in Mayakos. Many would have lost a livelihood because of your "political stand". It is only fair to say that their livelihood was in danger. Of YOU Muthama.<br /><br />Muthama if you bitch around that your life is in danger, what will the residents of Baragoi say? If you feel unsafe up there, what will we say down here? You might as well thama Kenya.<br /><br />I am sure that up there you have not heard the 'little' news that an Assistant Chief of the Kenyan Gov't had been kidnapped and was only released after paying a ransom. The reason why you have not heard is because the Boss herself created such a drama that all media attention, female lawyers and legislators went her way and the Chief was left to her gods.<br /><br />I am writing this, a frustrated Kenyan knowing that my little voice might be ignored. I know that the media will rush to your house if you fart but ignore the cry of the downtrodden. If this reaches you Muthama, I suggest you just shut up.<br /><br />We have our own bigger problems. Why should we listen to yours?<br /><br />Call the Inspector General Kimaiyo on 0722444110 and report your problems. Not the media.<br /><br />The fandamendo issue here is: You are infact a danger to yourself.</span><br />
<div class="yj6qo ajU" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; padding: 10px 0px; width: 22px;">
<div aria-label="Show trimmed content" class="ajR" data-tooltip="Show trimmed content" id=":1du" role="button" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; line-height: 6px; outline: none; position: relative; width: 20px;" tabindex="0">
<span style="font-size: large;"><img class="ajT" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="background-image: url(https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/ellipsis.png); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 8px; opacity: 0.3; width: 20px;" /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-57131921948468624492013-11-09T19:59:00.000+03:002013-11-09T19:59:03.648+03:00AFRICAN NATIONALISTS ARE NOT FULLY APPRECIATED<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">P. Anyang' Nyong'o</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">An average American child knows who Abraham Lincoln is. She or he also knows who George Washington is. There is the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. And the capital city, Washington DC, also reminds Americans all the time that this guy Washington was their founding father. But what is more important is that the school system has basic books which children read early in their lives on American civilization.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">An average African child today is likely not to know who Kwame Nkrumah is. Nelson Mandela is today well known because he is frequently in the news. Very soon this news coverage will begin to disappear and children born after that will be in jeopardy of forgetting Mandela altogether.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">When I lived in Mexico I was impressed by the folk tales about Emiliano Zapata, the peasant revolutionary. A museum had been erected in his home village where his story was told, with tourists coming from all over Mexico to see where Zapata was born, what his house looked like and to read the whole pictorial history of his accomplishments on the wall.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">If indeed, like Nyarere said, "binadamu wote ni sawa na Afrika ni moja" then we must bring all African nationalists home to be known by the African people. Nkrumah, Nassar, Sekou Toure, Lumumba, Kaunda, Ben Bella, Obote, Nyerere, Seretse Khama, Banda, Kenyatta Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Mandela: these are names which every child should grow singing like songs so as to know where we have come from. They must be part of our nursery rhymes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Apart from the mausoleum where he is buried in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, and where only a few in the family and government go to pay respect for him every year, where else does an ordinary Kenyan go to remember Jomo? Last year I went to Gatundu Hospital as Minister for Medical Services to see some work the Ministry was doing there and I was shown a house Kenyatta lived in which should be preserved as a national monument. Why that has not been done beats me.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">But let me go back to my concern: giving our nationalists the place they deserve in our history and our appreciation of the foundations of our nations. Yes, Hillary Ng'weno has done a very good job documenting the history and contributions of various Kenyan personalities for posterity. I now plead for a similar project for African nationalists in general because I believe in the "oneness" of Africa and our shared destiny.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">This time I do not want the histories and records only to be available in CDs in malls, supermarkets and book shops: I want them taught in kindergartens, schools and to be sang in songs. And I want these songs to be signature tunes in African radio stations across the continent like "Harambee Harambee" used to be in the Voice of Kenya. This is really what is called patriotism: making people know and be proud of our heroes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Come to think of it, despite the political assassinations, the detentions without trials and the canonizing of the one party state and its attendant authoritarian consequences, the sixties were great years for Africa. The advances we made in economic development we are not making today: our rates of growth are much lower today than what we achieved in the sixties. The data that we have show that the nations that were great achievers in health care in the sixties are now the low achievers in the twenty first century. Our ability to venture into the unknown was remarkable then: today we squabble for years on end before we agree on anything in national interest. And when we propose certain things in the so called national interest personal agenda creep in to completely spoil the broth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Think about it. When Kenneth Kaunda left office in 1991 what did he actually own? Virtually nothing. I was there during the elections and a year later we visited Kaunda in a small house the government had given him in Lusaka. All that the old man could do was to play for us his guitar singing love songs he remembered from his youth. Kaunda had sacrificed himself for Zambia.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">What about Julius Nyerere: what did he really have? A small house built for him by the government in his home town Butiama. And Obote? Virtually nothing. When be died a few years ago Oburu Oginga and I went to his funeral in Akokoro not too far from Lira and found the old man had lived humbly like a common peasant. But his contribution to the founding of the Ugandan nation, the liberation struggles in Southern Africa and the founding of the East African Community cannot be forgotten.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">A people who do not appreciate their past will hardly know where they are going. Appreciating our past does not mean we agree lock, stock and barrel with everything our founding fathers did. That would be sheer lunacy. But we must critically appreciate this history and understand it as our foundation. Selective memory of the past can also be very destructive to our history.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">For example, why don't we have a major street or building named after Joe Murumbi and Oginga Odinga in Nairobi? This issue has always bothered me. These were our very memorable Vice Presidents at a very critical time in our history. They did a lot for Kenya. But we have over named some people and completely swept aside others. This is what I call a selective reading of our history: very juvenile if you ask me.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">The name of Masinde Muliro should not only appear in institutions in Western Kenya: Muliro was a Kenyan hero not simply a politician from Kitale. And why are we silent about J.M. Kariuki? I do not think it is enough to remember J.M. only by the hospital Raila Odinga opened in his memory in Nyandarua last year. J.M. deserves more than that. A memorial library in the name of J.M. in one of our universities would be befitting. J.M. had a lot of time for the youth. As the President of the Makerere Students Guild I got to know J.M. very well. Nothing would make him more proud to know that a library, where students get enlightened, is named after him.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /></div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-56754552424021091262013-11-06T11:22:00.000+03:002013-11-06T11:22:19.315+03:00THE LATEST KENYA MEDIA BILL CONTROVERSY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">November 6, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">President Uhuru says he
won’t sign the controversial Media Bill until all the contentious issues are
resolved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Deputy President William
Ruto has also voiced his opposition to the Media Bill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Not left behind are the
senators that want the bill returned to the House so that they can scrutinize
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, voices from the
National Assembly are at variance with these suggestions. The chairman of the
Committee that drafted the bill is adamant that the bill is just and democratic
and that there is nothing draconian about it and that the president should sign
it into law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In this stand he seems to
get the backing of the Speaker of the National Assembly who says that the horse
has left the stable and the bill is already in the conveyor belt headed to the
president. He seemed to be shutting the door to any further consultations with
aggrieved stake holders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The media fraternity is up
in arms for the following reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It would appear that the
format earlier jointly endorsed by all parties has either been ignored or
tampered with on the floor of parliament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The bill in its present
form has rendered the current Media Council impotent and irrelevant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The new body to be known
as the Media and Communications Authority will set up a tribunal to regulate
the media. Under this set up, any journalist that violates the operational
rules will be subject to a fine of not more than Ksh. 1million shillings while
the media house that transgresses the new regulations will attract a fine Ksh
20 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Authority has also put
a caveat on the amount of foreign content to be aired on local stations. They
have sealed it at 55% while 45% of content including advertising must be
locally produced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Technically the bill takes
away self regulation that the media has enjoyed for some time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The draconian Media Bill
has its origin in the running battles that the media has had with the National
Assembly over the salary remuneration of MPs. Whereas the media rightly
vilified the political class’ greed in the midst of abject poverty, the MPs
finally had their way with the Chairman of The Salaries Review Commission and
got their Ksh 1 million per month package.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This controversy made
enraged lawmakers to promise the media punitive legislation in the future; a
process that would eventually replace self regulation with media control by the
government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As it is, membership of
both the Media and Communications Authority and the Tribunal will be appointees
of various arms of government. The media fraternity will have no direct
influence on the matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Having said that, it is
important to put the relation between media and political <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Class in perspective. This
relationship can be compared to the friendship between the chicken and the fox.
The chicken never really knows when the fox will turn around and snap its neck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For decades the media has
played very dirty roles in exchange for cash. Politicians have used them to
finish their rivals from time to time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During elections, the
media has behaved very badly. The same journalists have rushed to pack media
campaign offices all in the name of wind falls from politicians. Different
political parties hire their services to further their political agenda. They
have failed to remain nonpartisan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For the last two decades
when the media was liberalized, we have had a mushrooming of broadcast media
especially radio stations. We have all sorts of media houses broadcasting in
English, Kiswahili and leading local languages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This has generated stiff
competition resulting in a lot of unprofessionalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In order to attract
audiences, some media houses have resorted to obscenity where sex becomes the
staple food that adults and children are subjected to day in day out. Yet the
current Media Council that is supposed to self regulate has never bothered to
reign on these rogue broadcasters all in the name of freedom of expression and
freedom of the press. If the Media Council had chosen to be proactive rather
than wait for transgressions to be taken to them in their offices, it would not
have come to this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Now that the horse has
bolted from the stable, what next for the Media?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">They must pray that
president Uhuru does not sign it into law and even though, Uhuru must return
the bill to the same parliament with his own memo explaining why he has
rejected the bill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Under the circumstances,
parliament will look at it afresh. If they concur with the president then they
will amend the offending clauses. However, if MPs vote to retain the bill in
its current form and garner a two thirds majority then it becomes law without
the signature of the president.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As things stand, it will
need a lot of lobbying by the media to have the bill amended. The starting point
should be the Senate Speaker who seems sympathetic to their cause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-23762358490074690292013-11-05T13:55:00.000+03:002013-11-05T13:55:03.838+03:00ARE WOMEN IN PUBLIC SERVICE UNDER SIEGE FROM MALE RATTLE SNAKES?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">October 25, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Chief Justice Mutunga is
an honorable judge. So are his judges and magistrates in the judicial
fraternity. It is the reason Kenyans must continue to give him the benefit of
the doubt even when it is obvious that he has erred or faltered in his
decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In the last two years of
his reign as the supreme judge, Willy Mutunga has never been without
controversy. Strangely enough, the bulk of his woes have originated from his
former bosom friends in the trenches of the reform agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Perhaps as part of his
reform agenda, Willy Mutunga should look afresh at the people surrounding him,
the people he handpicked, some from the streets to be his aides. Being an
activist of many years, one understands if he has kept the faith with some in
the media fraternity that might have supported
him when he had no media outlet during his days at the NGO outfits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Right now Justice Mutunga
needs honest counsel that can look him in the eye and tell him the truth. He
does not need sycophants and court jesters waiting for crumbs from under his
table. More importantly, he does not need self proclaimed war council and fake
generals who flatter him that he Mutunga is the Commander in Chief of some
imaginary army. Being a Chief Justice, Mutunga is at the apex of power and does
not need any fake titles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is true that there can
be no two centers of power in the judiciary. We cannot have a judiciary where
every low life feels like a boss. We have to conform to the administrative
structures of other arms of government. In parliament, the Speaker is the undisputed
center of power while in the Executive the President’s authority is never
challenged by Cabinet or the Head of the Civil Service. Such a challenge is
never anticipated without attracting
summary dismissal or resignation where there is honour and self respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Having said that that,
there is a growing trend that seems to go against the constitution in so far as
women are concerned. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Our constitution drafters
were explicit in the role of women in the new dispensation. It is the reason we
included 30% of either gender in public service. However, what we have seen in
the last one year has been worrying. Women have been removed from the judiciary
in their droves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When Nancy Barasa was
removed as Deputy CJ for pinching a guard’s nose at the Village Market , we
thought it was a one off thing. It was not to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Since then, the following
women have been removed from the judiciary:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Jean Gacheche<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Joyce Khaminwa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Grace Nzioka<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Rosemelle Mutoka<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What is baffling is that
there is very little information available to the public when a high ranking
judge leaves office under mysterious circumstances. One has to go kicking like
Baraza and Shollei did in order to give the public a glimpse of the goings on
in the corridors of justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We all know that women
have suffered even in other arms of government. We know of Eva Oduor of the
Kenya Bureau of Standards who was sacked by an overzealous Cabinet Secretary on
flimsy grounds. We also know of Rebecca Nabutola who was briefly jailed for
misappropriation of public funds or misuse of office. She has since appealed
and is out on bail but jobless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, when Gladys Boss
Shollei’s case erupted, we all stood up to ask what on earth would pit the
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary against her boss the Chief Justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Looking at all these cases
I have cited, one cannot help to notice that the Judiciary leads the pack in
stripping women of their positions regardless of the circumstances. Does it
mean that male counterparts of these women have never committed minor offences
worth disciplining?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As I write this article,
there is talk in the air about the possibility of disbanding the Judicial
Service Commission whose membership is riddled with serious allegations ranging
from sexual predators to senior counsel who practice without valid papers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">All these things are
happening in Kenya because we are a country that has perfected the art of
impunity and thick skin. No amount of scandal or adverse publicity will force
us to resign our public offices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The paradox here is that
if one labels accusations against the Chief Justice, chances of finding a judge
to hear the case and determine it on point of law will be hard to come by. It
is the reason all judges rallied behind Mutunga to deny Shollei a public
hearing and hound her out of office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Another tragedy is that
former voices of reason like FIDA and other women groups including the LSK have
gone mute. For how long will this silence continue? Until the last woman leaves
the judiciary?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I rest my case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-89624311739190354602013-11-05T13:50:00.002+03:002013-11-05T13:50:37.036+03:00THE GODS OF THE JUDICIARY HEADED FOR BATTLE WITH THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">November 3, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Late this week, the
Supreme Court sat to deliberate on the dispute between the Senate and the
National Assembly. This was out of the bill of revenue division that the lower
House passed. However, when it inadvertently went to the upper House, they
increased the county allocation by over Ks 40 million. This act so incensed the
lower House prompting them to delete the additional revenue. Subsequently the
revised bill was signed into law by the President.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This was the tussle that
finally found its way into the Supreme Court for advisory opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It will be remembered that
in the recent past the Supreme Court had declined to appear before any
parliamentary committee probing the dealings in the judiciary. In fact some of
the members of the Judicial Advisory Commission who have been the subject of
such parliamentary investigations have been belligerent to the extent of
lowering the dignity of the house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Just a few days before the
Supreme Court sat to settle the dispute between the Senate and the House, a
lower court had passed a verdict barring the National Assembly from summoning
the judiciary to answer claims of mismanagement of public resources in the
corridors of justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We all know that there is
separation powers between the three arms of government. However, what the
judiciary is not appreciating is that the three arms of government must each be
its brother’s keeper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The judgement against the
lower House was obviously meant to fortify the judiciary’s independence. The
verdict against the lower House by the Supreme court a week later was meant to
warn the belligerent lower House that
the supremacy battle between the two institutions was now on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What one wonders is this:
If the Senate could humble itself to seek justice from the supreme court in its
dispute with the lower House, why can’t the Supreme Court humble itself in seeking arbitration in
parliament between it and the Registrar of the Supreme Court who had sought
arbitration in parliament?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Now that Gladys Shollei is
headed for the courts to seek justice for wrongful dismissal, will she find
justice in the corridors of justice that have marked her as corrupt and
arrogant? Is it possible that
in less than two years a well paid public servant like Shollei can commit over 80 economic crimes and embezzles
over Ks 2 billion?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In the Kenyan system, all
public servants including the judiciary are subjected to vetting by a
parliamentary committee before either being declared fit or unfit to hold any
public office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The same committee can
recommend the sacking of individuals if found to have not adhered to code of
conduct. A good example is what Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu is going through
now. If she is to have irregularly recruited senior staff without the knowledge
of the Public Service Commission, she may be asked to resign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This process is what all
arms of government must come to terms with irrespective of their independence.
It is the beauty of the new constitution that has brought sanity to the society
that has grown amok with impunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Another reality is the
fact that the same lower House is the one responsible for budget allocation.
Therefore if there is evidence that funds allocated to a particular institution
are misappropriated, Parliament has the powers to investigate and even reduce
the allocations in subsequent financial years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The mucky waters that the
judiciary now finds itself are of its own making. It all started with the humiliating dismissal of the deputy CJ on
account of a misdemeanor she committed at the Village Market on the eve of the
New Year. In this case, what was interesting was the speed and enthusiasism
with which the CJ got involved. In a matter of hours, he had called a press
conference and set up internal investigation, forgetting that a crime committed
in a public place should be investigated by the police under the direction of
the Public Prosecutor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The normal practice in
cases involving staff, especially junior staff is for the head of the
institution to protect her as much as possible while investigations are going
on and only give up when evidence is overwhelming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nancy Baraza opted to go
home because she had read the mood and realized that she could not get justice
in the corridors of justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So when Shollei’s
predicament burst in the open, it followed the pattern of Baraza’s with the
Chief Justice taking the front line with accusations. It is the reason Gladys
Shollei went to the press and parliament to disseminate the goings on in the
judiciary and seek justice in the only institution that gave and the Chief Judge
their jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Chief Justice must
realize that he is operating under a new Kenya. Those days when judges were
gods in the corridors of justice are long gone. The earlier he and his judges
realize this, the better for this country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-60998946015009190302013-10-31T18:21:00.001+03:002013-10-31T18:23:50.370+03:00WHY SOME NATIONS ARE RICH WHILE OTHERS ARE SO POOR
P. Anyang' Nyong'o
Nov. 3, 2013
As long as I can remember, philosophers, theologists, historians and more recently social scientists have asked themselves the puzzling question of why some nations prosper while others do not. At one time the German sociologist, Max Weber, argued that the Industrial Revolution took place first in England because of the dominance of the Protestant religion on this "little island set in a silver sea" as Shakespeare described it.
As early as the late eighteenth century, the great French political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu noted the geographic concentration of prosperity and poverty, and proposed an explanation for it. He argued that people in tropical climates tended to be lazy and to lack inquisitiveness. As a consequence they didn't work hard and were not innovative, and this was the reason why they were poor.
Much more recently in 1999 the late David Landes, long time professor of economics at Harvard University, published a fascinating book entitled "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why some are So Rich and Some So Poor". In this book Landes more or less upheld the Montesquieu thesis, making many more "development economics" look for some "extra threats" to development in tropical countries. For example, some argue that it is only in the Tropics that one finds the menace of malaria, a terrible hazard to development by killing human beings and "wasting" government resources in health expenditure which could otherwise have been invested in education and food programs.
The same development economists have for long upheld the thesis that ignorance plays an important role in keeping developing countries underdeveloped. The argument goes something like this. It is well known that if you want people to work hard for their livelihood and hence to prosper, you must give them the freedom to choose what they do, what they buy and how they use what they buy. You must allow people to invest in activities that reward them handsomely. You must allow them to make mistakes if they must. In other words you must allow the free Market to determine the economic behavior, choices and decisions of people. Government should be there only to provide public goods like roads, schools and weather reports.
In developing countries, these people argue, government tries to do too much and to meddle too much with people's lives. Government has no business running a Meat Commission, or bus services or even banks. All the state corporations and marketing boards that African countries created after independence to stimulate development were all mistakes: they were simply the source of corruption by the elite, bleeding the African tax payer dry. According to the "ignorance hypothesis", African leaders did this through pure ignorance, notwithstanding the fact that there were many Western economists in African capitals advising presidents and ministers of planning when corporations and Marketing Boards were created. In Kenya, Tom Mboya had American Professor George Edwards as his advisor and Professor Tony Killick was in Ghana as an equally critical time.
Two Harvard based economists, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have now published a book, "Why Nations Fail: the Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty" demolishing all these theories with numerous examples throughout the history of humankind.
Lauded as "a brilliant and uplifting book, yet also a deeply disturbing wake-up call" by Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT, this book contends that countries, wherever they are and having whatever culture, will always prosper if they put in place the right pro-growth political institutions and they will always fail--often spectacularly--when those institutions ossify or fail to adapt. The danger, throughout the ages, has always been leaders or rulers who use political power to subvert public institutions to serve their own narrow interests of consumption, greed, wasteful wars "to busy giddy minds with foreign quarrels" or internal conflicts to maintain political power in a fragile political environment.
Acemoglu and Robinson traverse history from ancient times to the present, giving examples of nations which prosper or fail precisely as a result of this "institution and growth" thesis. The best example they give, as far as Kenya is concerned, are three: North and South Korea, on the one hand, and Botswana on the other.
At the end of the Second World War, the people of Korea--same culture, same language and same geographical area-- were divided into two along the 38th parallel. To the north was North Korea ruled by the communists as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with Kim Il Sung as the undisputed communist leader driven by his Juche philosophy. To the South was South Korea under American domination but having a Market economy and for a long time ruled by a tightly knit authoritarian regime led by Syngman Rhee and his successors General Park Chung-Hee and others.
This arrangement after some time produced two Koreas one of which became a prosperous global economic player in less than 50 years, i.e. South Korea, while the other one continues to languish in poverty and ravaged by famines, i.e. North Korea. An aerial photograph taken of the two Koreas today shows South Korea well lit at night almost evenly throughout the country while the north is as dark as most of Africa during the night.
Nothing to do with geography, ignorance or culture: all to do with enlightened leadership fusing its interests with that of the nation (without necessarily eliminating the class contradictions that come with capitalism), proper institutions, pro- growth investments and stimulating people to produce, invest and enjoy the fruits of their labour, not to mention domestic peace and tranquility.
Botswana, one the poorest African countries at independence in the early sixties, is now one of the most prosperous and fast growing economies in Africa. History has it that when the Botswana Democratic Party was established to fight for independence by Sir Seretse, Quett Masire and the Tswana elites, all chiefs, landowners and peasants joined the party, making it a mass movement under which the whole Tswana nation was mobilized. Though poor the government started to galvanize the nation's resources for development, beginning with the livestock industry.
A Botswana Meat Commission was established which did a much better job as a pro- growth institution than similar state- run institutions elsewhere in Africa. When diamonds were discovered, the government behaved in a similar manner: using the diamond revenues to bolster the national economy. The ascetic leadership by Tswana presidents, elected democratically into office over the last 50 years without tinkering with the constitution, has made Botswana one of the most inclusive nations in Africa. It is tropical, heterogeneous in religion and African: but the leaders are enlightened, respect democratic governance, pro- growth economic institutions, promote human rights and speak their minds at the African Union meetings.
Whether we like it or not we need to learn something from history if Kenya is going to get somewhere. We are in danger of entering a never ending vicious circle that may put us on the Haiti road: always seeking to solve problems which don't get resolved but simply produce other problems. Coupled with man- made and natural disasters--like the earth quake in Haiti or the terrorist attack at Westgate--we shall then be under-developing even against our will. Let us at least begin accelerating our development with leaders who are enlightened, institutions which we respect and defend, an economy which grows with the full involvement of our people and a political system which is largely inclusive.
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-31883302549640655272013-10-28T11:22:00.002+03:002013-10-28T11:25:02.259+03:00OUTCRY OVER EAST AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS ATTEMPT TO STIFLE MEDIA <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By JOINT REPORT: The EastAfrican Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda have recently enacted, or are in the process of enacting, laws that put the media under close state supervision. The World Press Freedom Index 2013, published by Reporters Without Borders, describes East Africa as a region of censorship, singling out Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan and Ethiopia, where newspapers are arbitrarily shut down, and journalists jailed for breaking laws or for criticizing the government. Media freedom under threat in East Africa Outcry over EA governments attempts to stifle media Tanzania has joined other East African countries in proposing new media laws that would see journalists face severe penalties for professional mistakes, and curtail media freedom. Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda have recently enacted, or are in the process of enacting, laws that put the media under close state supervision. Early this month, the Tanzanian government presented a schedule of amendments to the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2013. The Parliamentary Committee chairperson, Pindi Chana, confirmed that they had received the schedule of amendments. “My committee gives views not only on the Newspapers Act, but other laws that are proposed to be amended to be presented before the parliament,” Ms. Chana told The EastAfrican over the phone. “If the Newspaper Act amendment goes through, all newspapers will be closed down because it is easy for influential people to use the law for revenge,” said Angelo Mwoleka, the managing director of Kutoka Arusha, a weekly Kiswahili newspaper. INVESTIGATIVE STORY In Kenya, on Thursday Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo summoned journalists Mohammed Ali, John Allan Namu and group chief executive Sam Shollei of the Standard Group over an investigative story on the Westgate mall terrorist attack in September. He claimed they incited the public against the government by “provoking” propaganda. In response, chief executive of the Media Council of Kenya Harun Mwangi said Mr. Kimaiyo ought to have directed his complaints to the council, and that the police were trying to intimidate and curtail media freedom because of the impact of the story aired on KTN. In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame in March signed new press laws and a Freedom of Information Act, in which the Media Council that was previously known for censoring the press was assigned new responsibilities of capacity building and promoting professional journalism. But journalists in Rwanda have been jailed for criminal libel, alleged national security offences and genocide-related laws. Agnes Uwimana and Saidati Mukakibibi were jailed for allegedly defaming President Kagame and “endangering national security” after writing articles that criticized the government’s agricultural policy and denied the genocide. Fears emerge over Rwanda's information law In Uganda, the government enacted a law that allows the state to shut down newspapers and jail journalists for articles said to undermine national security. As a result, the safety and security of journalists’ remains compromised, with many subjected to arbitrary arrests. The World Press Freedom Index 2013, published by Reporters without Borders, describes East Africa as a region of censorship, singling out Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan and Ethiopia, where newspapers are arbitrarily shut down, and journalists jailed for breaking laws or for criticizing the government. </div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-61048479951916782532013-10-26T16:56:00.002+03:002013-10-26T16:56:57.850+03:00SOUTH AFRICA STUMBLES WHILE LOOKING TO MARKET ITSELF ABROAD<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<br /></h1>
<div class="shareTop" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="nextgen-share-tools" style="margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px; width: 640px;">
<ul class="nextgen-left" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="float: left; height: 22px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="nextGenPrint" href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025,0,2333854,print.story" rel="nofollow" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;" title="print"><img alt="print" class="icon" src="http://www.latimes.com/hive/images/icons/printicon_boxed.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 5px; width: auto;" /></a></li>
<li class="nextgen-comment-count" style="color: #5169b1; float: left; height: 22px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="nextgen-comments-container" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://www.latimes.com/hive/images/nextgen-comments-notext.png); background-position: 100% -20px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="nextgen-comments-content" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://www.latimes.com/hive/images/nextgen-comments-notext.png); background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 87px;">
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025,0,1749866.story#tugs_story_display" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51) !important; display: block; font-family: arial; height: 17px; margin: 3px 0px 0px 22px; text-decoration: none;">Comments</a></div>
<div class="nextgen-comments-counter" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 17px; margin: 0px; min-width: 25px; padding: 3px 3px 0px 0px; text-align: center;">
7</div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul class="nextgen-right" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;">
<li id="componentDiv_top_gig_containerParent" style="float: left; height: 22px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div gigid="showShareBarUI" id="componentDiv_top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; visibility: visible;">
<div class="gig-bar-container gig-share-bar-container" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-none gig-button-container-email gig-button-container-email-count-none gig-share-button-container" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: auto;">
<div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="componentDiv_top-reaction0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-email_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -46px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 16px;">
</div>
</td><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
Email</div>
</td><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="componentDiv_top-reaction0-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-right gig-button-container-share gig-button-container-share-count-right gig-share-button-container" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: auto;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td class="gig-button-td" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="componentDiv_top-reaction1" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-share_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -62px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 16px;">
</div>
</td><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
Share</div>
</td><td id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="gig-counter gig-share-counter gig-counter-$rid gig-counter-right" id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-count" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bemail%2Cshare%2Ctwitter-tweet%2Cfacebook-like%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -8px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px auto 0px 1px; padding: 0px; position: static; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 38px; zoom: 1;">
<span class="gig-counter-text gig-share-counter-text gig-counter-text-right gig-share-counter-text-right" id="componentDiv_top-reaction1-count-value" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; left: 1px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;">10</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-right gig-button-container-twitter-tweet gig-button-container-twitter-tweet-count-right gig-share-button-container" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: auto;">
<div id="componentDiv_top-reaction2_tweet1382795443056" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-tweet-button twitter-count-horizontal" data-twttr-rendered="true" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.1382126667.html#_=1382795468172&count=horizontal&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fworldnow%2Fla-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025%2C0%2C1749866.story%23axzz2ipmi6zmb&size=m&text=South%20Africa%20stumbles%20while%20looking%20to%20market%20itself%20abroad&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fworldnow%2Fla-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025%2C0%2C1749866.story" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-style: none; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; display: block; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter Tweet Button"></iframe></div>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-right gig-button-container-facebook-like gig-button-container-facebook-like-count-right gig-share-button-container" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; width: auto;">
<div id="componentDiv_top-reaction3" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<div class="fb-like fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" data-action="like" data-colorscheme="" data-font="" data-gig-btnid="componentDiv_top-reaction31382795443072" data-href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025,0,1749866.story" data-layout="button_count" data-ref="s=showShareBarUI:p=facebook-like" data-send="false" data-show-faces="false" data-width="55" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; display: inline-block; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;">
<span style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; display: inline-block; height: 21px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify; width: 90px;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f2b0e7d98" name="f7898d948" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=like&api_key=&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D27%23cb%3Df3f6328a14%26domain%3Dwww.latimes.com%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.latimes.com%252Ff12630b6%26relation%3Dparent.parent&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fworldnow%2Fla-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025%2C0%2C1749866.story&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&node_type=link&ref=s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook-like&sdk=joey&send=false&show_faces=false&width=90" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-style: none; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; float: none; height: 21px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 90px; z-index: 10000;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="float: left; height: 22px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-color: transparent; border-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;">
<iframe data-gapiattached="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I0_1382795441715" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I0_1382795441715" scrolling="no" src="https://apis.google.com/u/0/_/+1/fastbutton?usegapi=1&bsv=o&size=medium&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fworld%2Fworldnow%2Fla-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131025%2C0%2C1749866.story&gsrc=3p&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fscs%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fk%3Doz.gapi.en.n2-8KBUnlZw.O%2Fm%3D__features__%2Fam%3DAQ%2Frt%3Dj%2Fd%3D1%2Frs%3DAItRSTOa4QY1jsFGfyLYQMTb_jD3WNXC3w#_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart%2Concircled%2Cdrefresh%2Cerefresh&id=I0_1382795441715&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com&pfname=&rpctoken=31969862" style="border-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="articlebody largeImage" id="story-body" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="thumbnail" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 13px 8px 8px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 600px; z-index: 1000;">
<div class="holder" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px auto 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<table cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px auto; width: 1px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Jacob Zuma" border="0" height="392" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-526ad071/turbine/la-fg-wn-south-africa-economic-woes-zuma-20131-001/600" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px auto;" title="Jacob Zuma" width="600" /><div class="small" style="font-size: 11px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px;">
South African President Jacob Zuma delivers a speech during a business forum with France in Johannesburg. <span class="credit">(<span class="photographer">Stephane de Sakutin / AFP/Getty Images</span> / <span class="dateMonth">October </span><span class="dateDay">14</span><span class="dateYear">, 2013</span>)</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div class="articlerail" style="clear: both; float: left; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 234px; z-index: 4;">
<div class="articleRelates module" style="border: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 10px 10px 0px;">
<ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-south-africa-mamphela-ramphele-20131024,0,5883249.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt="Former anti-apartheid activist says South Africa has lost direction" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-52698248/turbine/la-fg-wn-south-africa-mamphela-ramphele-20131024/187/187x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title="Former anti-apartheid activist says South Africa has lost direction" width="187" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-south-africa-mamphela-ramphele-20131024,0,5883249.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">Former anti-apartheid activist says South Africa has lost direction</a></li>
<li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-usmilitary-africa-20131020,0,4805969.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt="U.S. military investing heavily in Africa" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-52633732/turbine/la-fg-usmilitary-africa-20131020-thumbnail/187/187x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title="U.S. military investing heavily in Africa" width="187" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-usmilitary-africa-20131020,0,4805969.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">U.S. military investing heavily in Africa</a></li>
<li class="newRelatedItem" style="clear: both; list-style: none outside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-slavery-africa-20131017,0,3622945.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target=""><img alt="Slavery still haunts Africa, where millions remain captive" height="105" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-5260098e/turbine/la-fg-wn-slavery-africa-20131017/187/187x105" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-right: 5px; padding-right: 8px;" title="Slavery still haunts Africa, where millions remain captive" width="187" /></a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-slavery-africa-20131017,0,3622945.story" style="clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: block; text-decoration: none; width: 212px;" target="">Slavery still haunts Africa, where millions remain captive</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="konafilter pm-ad tpl06 pm-device" id="pmad-rail" style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 5px 0px; padding: 0px 35px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 200px; z-index: 4;">
<iframe align="top" frameborder="0" height="200" id="pmad-rail-frame" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="pmad-rail-frame" scrolling="no" src="about:blank" style="border: 1px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;" width="200"></iframe></div>
<span class="toolSet" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="byline" itemprop="author" style="display: block;">By Robyn Dixon</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">October 25, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">1:37 p.m.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
</span><div id="story-body-text" style="line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Brand South Africa, the body charged with marketing the nation abroad, has had a tough month.</div>
<div class="p402_premium" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/macroeconomics/international-economic-institution/international-monetary-fund-ORGOV0000244.topic" id="ORGOV0000244" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="International Monetary Fund">International Monetary Fund</a> on Oct. 1 downgraded its growth forecast for South Africa and called on the government to take tougher action to make the country more competitive, increase economic growth and tackle chronically high unemployment.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Then came BMW’s abrupt and embarrassing announcement Oct. 3 that the company had canceled plans to expand its South African operation, because of the cost of successive strikes.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
To top off the bad news, on Tuesday the office of South African President <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/jacob-zuma-PEPLT00008061.topic" id="PEPLT00008061" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Jacob Zuma">Jacob Zuma</a> was forced to apologize after Zuma a day earlier referred disdainfully to Malawi and other parts of Africa, saying that South Africa should not “think like Africans in Africa generally; we're in Johannesburg.” He made the comments in reference to plans for a toll system to pay for highways.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Brand South Africa Chief Executive Miller Matola said Friday that he didn’t think Zuma’s comments, known locally as his “I am not an African” speech, created negative international perceptions of the country. But he acknowledged that South Africa faced “challenges,” particularly in encouraging business investment.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
“We need a national conversation about being more competitive,” he said at a news conference.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Matola said South Africa’s best hope was the government’s 20-year economic growth strategy, the National Development Plan, released last year, which aims to improve infrastructure and competitiveness, raise education levels, create jobs and eliminate poverty.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The country needs a boost like the one it got from hosting the <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/soccer/fifa-world-cup-15073018.topic" id="15073018" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="FIFA World Cup">FIFA World Cup</a> soccer championship in 2010, he said.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
“The next World Cup for us is the National Development Plan, this national vision for the country, and making it work,” he said.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The plan has been applauded by economists but attacked by leaders of powerful South African trade unions. Union leaders argue that it is premised on undermining workers’ rights and cutting wages.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, meanwhile, blamed negative news reports for the nation’s downgrade last year by major credit-rating agencies.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
“Whether we are in opposition or in government, whether we are in business or in any other sector of the economy, if you want to shoot this country down, carry on with the [negative] news flow,” Gordhan told a parliamentary committee, according to SAPA news agency. “Alternatively, change the narrative and talk about how we are going to cooperate to put this country on its proper growth path so we can create jobs and we can create optimism and a better investment climate for the country.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
His comments came after Fitch Ratings on Thursday warned that South Africa faced increasing social and economic problems because of weak growth. The agency said Gordhan's midterm budget statement Wednesday adjusting South Africa’s GDP growth projection downward to 2.1% from a projected 3% a year ago “paints an even weaker picture for economic growth and provides little comfort that the economy will revive sufficiently to support robust job creation.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Fitch warned of the danger of further ratings downgrades if Gordhan failed to deliver faster growth and spending cuts.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Brand South Africa’s job of reinventing the narrative has been made more difficult by South Africa’s slump in other global rankings.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
In a <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/world-bank-group-ORGOV000265.topic" id="ORGOV000265" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="World Bank Group">World Bank</a> index on the ease of opening a new business, South Africa's ranking fell 10 points from 2012 to 2013, although the overall ease of doing business in the country remained stable.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The same index found that it took 226 days for a company to get electricity in South Africa, compared with 133 days, on average, elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and 98 days in member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes the U.S.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
Matola said Brand South Africa planned to hold a forum in early November on how to make South Africa more competitive, in a bid to win more support for the National Development Plan.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
But analyst Allister Sparks wrote in the newspaper Business Day recently that the National Development plan was at risk because of opposition from unions and lack of political will.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
“What we have is a president who has no economic philosophy of any kind,” Sparks wrote. “He is a leader totally preoccupied with a continuing juggling act aimed at keeping all the conflicting factions in his ruling alliance in some kind of balance. That is not even consensus politics, for no consensus ever emerges. It is a perpetual balancing act that results in total immobility.”</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-14924506374404464562013-10-26T16:19:00.001+03:002013-10-26T16:19:43.465+03:00US MUSIC PRODUCER QUINCY JONES SUES JACKSON ESTATE <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="story-body" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; width: 464px;">
<h1 class="story-header" style="clear: both; font-size: 2.461em; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 34px; margin: 3px -160px 13px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; width: 623px;">
<br /></h1>
<div class="caption body-width" style="clear: both; float: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; position: relative;">
<img alt="Michael Jackson in the video for Thriller in 1983" height="261" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70725000/jpg/_70725025_001297224.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px; position: relative;" width="464" /><span style="display: block; width: 464px;">Quincy Jones worked on Michael Jackson's hit 1982 album Thriller</span></div>
<div class="story-feature related narrow" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px -160px 16px 16px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 144px;">
<a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24681875#story_continues_1" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; left: -5000px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; top: -5000px;">Continue reading the main story</a><h2 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-size: 1.231em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 11px 0px 12px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
Related Stories</h2>
<ul class="related-links-list" style="border-top-style: none; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 8px 0px 0px;">
<li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22213233" rel="published-1366365117035" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Quincy Jones inducted into Hall of Fame</a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24375844" rel="published-1380753943181" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Jackson family lose negligence case</a></li>
<li class="has-icon-boxedwatch " style="background-image: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-indent: 21px; text-rendering: auto;"><a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24376679" rel="published-1380754914584" style="color: #4a7194; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Verdict clears AEG of negligence<span class="gvl3-icon gvl3-icon-boxedwatch" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/3_0_17/cream/hi/shared/img/gvl3-icons-0-2.png); background-position: -1301px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #505050; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-size: 1px; height: 15px; left: 0px; line-height: 1px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; opacity: 0.85; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: -5000px; top: 0px; width: 16px; z-index: 10;">Watch</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
US music producer Quincy Jones is suing the estate of the late Michael Jackson for millions of dollars.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
He says the singer's estate and Sony Music Entertainment improperly re-edited songs to deprive him of royalties and production fees.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
Mr Jones says they also broke an agreement giving him the right to remix master recordings for albums released after Jackson's death in 2009.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
He produced some of Jackson's top discs including Off the Wall and Thriller.</div>
<div class="videoInStoryC" style="clear: both; display: inline; float: right; margin: 0px -160px 16px 16px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 320px;">
<div class="emp" id="emp-24682571-77892" style="cursor: pointer; height: 180px; position: relative;">
<img height="180" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70725000/jpg/_70725454_018265965.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border: 0px; font-style: italic; letter-spacing: 0px;" width="320" /><a href="" style="background-color: black; color: #1f4f82; display: block; font-weight: bold; height: 80px; left: 0px; margin-top: -40px; opacity: 0.75; position: absolute; top: 90px; width: 80px;" title="Click to play"></a><a href="" style="background-color: red; color: #1f4f82; display: block; font-weight: bold; height: 80px; left: 0px; margin-top: -40px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 90px; width: 80px;" title="Click to play"></a><div style="background-image: url(http://emp.bbci.co.uk/emp/releases/worldwide/revisions/749603_749269_749444_6/cta_play.png); height: 36px; left: 26px; margin-top: -18px; position: absolute; top: 90px; width: 27px;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="caption" style="clear: both; color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-right: -160px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-rendering: auto; width: 320px;">
The BBC's Peter Bowes says Quincy Jones was the best known of Jackson's producers</div>
</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
The Jackson estate said that it was saddened by the lawsuit.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
"To the best of its knowledge, Mr Jones has been appropriately compensated over approximately 35 years for his work with Michael," a statement said.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
Quincy Jones's lawsuit is seeking at least $10m (£6m) from the singer's estate and Sony.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
Earlier this month the family of Michael Jackson lost a negligence case against concert promoters AEG Live over the death of the 50-year-old pop star.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
A jury concluded the doctor looking after the singer ahead of his concert tour was not unfit for his job - and so AEG had not been negligent in hiring him.</div>
<div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: auto;">
Jackson died in 2009 after taking an overdose of a surgical anaesthetic.</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">
<div class="story-related" style="clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 24px !important; overflow: visible; position: relative; width: 464px;">
<h2 style="border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-size: 1.846em; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
More on This Story</h2>
<div class="see-also">
<h3 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-size: 1.231em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 8px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; width: 464px;">
Related Stories</h3>
<ul class="related-links-list" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px;">
<li class=" first" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22213233" rel="published-1366365117035" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Quincy Jones inducted into Hall of Fame</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">19 APRIL 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24375844" rel="published-1380753943181" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Jackson family lose negligence case</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">03 OCTOBER 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">US & CANADA</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="has-icon-boxedwatch " style="float: left; margin-right: 6px; text-indent: 21px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24376679" rel="published-1380754914584" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Verdict clears AEG of negligence<span class="gvl3-icon gvl3-icon-boxedwatch" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/3_0_17/cream/hi/shared/img/gvl3-icons-0-2.png); background-position: -1301px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #505050; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-size: 1px; font-weight: bold; height: 15px; left: 0px; line-height: 1px; margin: 0px 8px 5px 0px; opacity: 0.85; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: -5000px; top: 0px; width: 16px; z-index: 10;">Watch</span></a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">02 OCTOBER 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">US & CANADA</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="has-icon-boxedwatch " style="float: left; margin-right: 6px; text-indent: 21px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24377371" rel="published-1380770939411" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Jurors speak after verdict<span class="gvl3-icon gvl3-icon-boxedwatch" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/view/3_0_17/cream/hi/shared/img/gvl3-icons-0-2.png); background-position: -1301px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #505050; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-size: 1px; font-weight: bold; height: 15px; left: 0px; line-height: 1px; margin: 0px 8px 5px 0px; opacity: 0.85; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: -5000px; top: 0px; width: 16px; z-index: 10;">Watch</span></a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">03 OCTOBER 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">US & CANADA</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24238687" rel="published-1380098902603" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Jackson family seeks $290m from AEG</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">25 SEPTEMBER 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/24649568" rel="published-1382597626868" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Michael Jackson best-paid dead celeb</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">24 OCTOBER 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">ENTERTAINMENT</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22949201" rel="published-1371553735842" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Jackson promoters 'inappropriate'</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">18 JUNE 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23877702" rel="published-1377767211300" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Jackson's 'earlier drug requests'</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">29 AUGUST 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS</span></li>
<li class="" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="float: left; margin-right: 6px;">
<a class="story" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23708774" rel="published-1376555946033" style="color: #4a7194; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Doctors 'took advantage of Jackson'</a></div>
<span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">15 AUGUST 2013</span>, <span class="section" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 0.846em; font-weight: bold; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="puffbox">
<div class="newstracker-list" style="clear: both; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 7px;">
<h3 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; font-size: 1.231em; margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 8px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; width: 464px;">
From other news sites</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-39786611125075323622013-10-26T16:05:00.001+03:002013-10-26T16:09:17.675+03:00SPLITS EMERGING WITHIN EAC BLOCK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="sectiontitle" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_main_head" style="color: #d20000; font-family: Oswald; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 1.1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 9px;">
<span class="updated2" style="color: #7b8f9f; font-family: oswald; font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 1em; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 3px; text-transform: capitalize; width: 70px;">Publish Date: Oct 26, 2013</span></div>
<div id="containerinside">
<div id="leftinside" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: Oswald; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; width: 410px;">
<div class="list" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_maiming">
<img alt="Splits emerging within EAC bloc" class="img" src="http://www.newvision.co.ug/newvision_cms/gall_content/2013/10/2013_10$largeimg226_Oct_2013_113518790.jpg" style="border: 0px double rgb(220, 225, 228); margin: 0px; max-height: 303px; max-width: 400px; padding: 0px;" /></div>
</div>
<div class="detail" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_divimgcap" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: bold; width: 410px;">
<span style="color: #707070; font-size: 8pt;">newvision</span>Rwandese prime minister Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, Burundi president Pierre Nkuruzinza, Museveni, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete and Kenyata after a EAC summit at Arusha Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Tanzania in April. Tanzania and Burundi have been noticeably missing EAC meetings</div>
<div class="clear" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Oswald; font-size: 1px; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_divdtls" style="background-color: white; font-family: Oswald;">
<span class="Fullstory_class" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;"></span><br />
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
</div>
<span class="Fullstory_class" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
<br />
The East African Community (EAC) is considered one of the world’s fastest and most progressive economic blocs, but despite the huge strides taken by the member states, splits have emerged.<br />
<strong><br /></strong>
<strong>David Mugabe</strong> examines why Tanzania is anxious about the integration.<br />
<br />
During the September 2013 Westgate attack, the East African Community (EAC) secretariat in Arusha Tanzania attempted to mobilise and transfer blood and blood products to Nairobi to assist the victims of the terror attack.</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
The noble initiative did not succeed because of the complexities of moving such delicate matter such as blood.<br />
<br />
Blood is the single most binding factor in the EAC because almost all the ethnic tribes in the region are similar in one way or another. But more splits are emerging within the bloc and the fears are now being expressed more openly, the blood linkages aside.</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
Early this week, Tanzania protested against the joint infrastructure undertakings of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. This has raised a major test to what is considered one of the world’s fastest and most progressive economic blocs.<br />
<br />
EAC is unique in many ways. Above all, it is the only kind pushing for a political federation. It is also one of the fastest integrating blocks, so much that in just one decade, three protocols are almost done, including the customs union, common market and now the monetary union (in November).</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
But on Monday, Tanzanian government poured cold water on the progress - a development that observers say will test the staying power of this integrating region. Feeling isolated, Tanzania described the undertakings as “illegal.”<br />
<br />
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda’s move to kick-start joint building of roads and rail was seen as a spat in the face of Tanzania who was dragging its feet on the integration.</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
Tanzania says the projects under deliberation by the tripartite meetings of Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, should have been endorsed first by all the EAC member countries.<br />
<br />
The suggestion by Tanzania is that bi-lateral or tri-lateral agreements need consensus before implementation. “This is notwithstanding the fact that the coalition of the three countries in exclusion of Tanzania and Burundi is being run under their respective foreign affairs dockets and not through the EAC secretariat,” said Tanzania.<br />
<br />
Decisions in the EAC are made by consensus and no partner state is compelled to append its approval to that of the other member states.</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
Article 7(1) (e) of the EAC Protocol allows member countries to enter bi-lateral or tri-lateral agreements, but Tanzania says it is a must that issues under consideration for implementation are fully agreed upon by all member countries.<br />
<br />
During a recent meeting in Nairobi, EAC secretary general Richard Sezibera cautioned the region against division and fear saying: “Those who do not want us united will always look for things to divide us.” But central to the recent protest is a dicey political issue of residency and the legal status of a state’s citizens’ presence in another.<br />
<br />
What is clear, however, is that no single country has not fallen short in implementing a signed protocol or dragged its feet in one matter. There are, however, specific cases where Tanzania has either completely not agreed with or slowed down negotiations with its partners.<br />
<br />
<strong>Sticking points</strong>Refugees<br />
<br />
Tanzania recently expelled Rwanda, Burundi and some Uganda refugees who had lived in the country for generations, some of whom were even separated from their partners.</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
About 25,000 refugees were expelled by Tanzania for what was described as their illegal status. To diffuse the crisis, Sezibera wants the states to meet.<br />
<br />
“We want to address the issue for the long-term. The puzzling question is having an illegal immigrant in a common market,” said Sezibera. Despite this integration set back, the EAC states have been credited for giving away a lot of their sovereignty<br />
<br />
Work permits<br />
<br />
In August 2012, Tanzania imposed a 33% increase in work permit fees on residents of other East African Community member states. This was the first test to the EAC common market signed in 2010 that among others allowed free movement of people.<br />
<br />
Arbitrary fees<br />
<br />
In the same year, there was a protest from Kenyan transporters over a new $200 fee that Tanzania Revenue Authority introduced on vehicles crossing into its territory. But Tanzania is not alone in imposing arbitrary fees. In 2012, Kenyan instituted a cash bond that required Ugandan bound cargo to deposit cash cover for the same goods, a move that was considered a new barrier.<br />
<br />
Passport versus identity cards<br />
<br />
Also, Tanzania has been opposed to the use of national identity cards as a travel document within the East African Community member states<br />
<br />
Land issue<br />
<br />
In 2008, Tanzania again did not mince its words on the question of land ownership in East Africa. Tanzania openly stated that there would be no land deal in the East African Community. Sezibera has asked members to put their fears on the side and build a community “which is a depository of all our hopes, celebrate our differences and take the risk of being one people and not an aggregate of all our fears and a “community of one fearful people.”</div>
<div style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -0.001em; line-height: 1.4em;">
</div>
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Oswald; padding: 5px;">
<ins style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline-table; height: 60px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 468px;"></ins></div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-9310567417948228612013-10-23T19:19:00.000+03:002013-10-23T19:19:54.732+03:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOST
GOVERNORS HAVE DEVOLVED IMPUNITY TO THE COUNTIES<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">By Jerry Okungu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">August 14, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The sorry tale of
governors we recently elected to devolve services to our villages is a sad one.
Kenyans are beginning to question the wisdom of having devolved the government
so soon after the elections. Perhaps this is God’s way of punishing an
electorate that never learns from its past mistakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The root cause of the
early rot we are seeing in our counties lies in the fact that at all levels of government;
there was no credible election right from the party primaries. Election malpractices
by all parties were the order of the day. Party owners chose to plant their
cronies in positions of power at the expense of democracy. They sacrificed
democracy at the altar of mediocrity. And now, through the governors, CMAs and
MPs we are reaping the fruits of that mediocrity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, before we even
condemn governors, let us turn our attention to that august house that calls
itself the National Assembly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When it opened its doors
to the first business of the day, we saw greed in its raw form. And for the
first time we saw a different side of politicians. They are only divided in the
quest for state power but united in greed. During the debate on their salaries,
it was difficult to distinguish between Jubilee and Cord MPs. In fact Cord MPs
were more militant in their support for the Leader of Majority than the Jubilee
legislators. Ripping the treasury was a life and death assignment for some of
them especially the new MPs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When Madam Serem succumbed
to the demands of MPs with assistance from William Ruto, the floodgates were
open. Suddenly teachers, doctors, County Assembly Representations and
university lecturers joined in the band wagon. MPs had proved to them that there
was cash to be dished out. As the saying goes, for every action, there is an
equal and opposite reaction. To put it better, every action is bound to have a
ripple effect which can either be positive or negative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When William Ruto went to
arm twist Sarah Serem to give the MPs their demands, one hopes he anticipated
the consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The governors’ case is a
unique tragic realization for Kenyans. When Kenyans fought tooth and nail to
have a constitution with devolved governments, they were tired of biased
distribution of national resources. They were tired of an all powerful
presidency. They were tired of greedy MPs who only minded their personal
aggrandizement. They thought the devolved governments would take them to
Canaan. They were wrong all the way. Now the reality is dawning on some
counties that they might have jumped from the frying pan to the fire itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In Kenya, everything seems
to be going wrong with the devolution. If mandarins of the National government
are not busy sabotaging the process, the chairman of the Transitional Authority
seems visibly lost most of the time. In fact by merely looking at the TA
Chairman, one wonders where he was fished from. He doesn’t inspire any
confidence among the people he is supposed to assist through the transition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In the run up to the March
4 elections, there were so many discussions about the type of people that
counties should elect as governors. The advice was to elect people with
business background in the private sector, those that had experience in
handling enterprises. It was the reason Evans Kidero became attractive to the
people of Nairobi and Cyprian Awiti was thought to be a suitable candidate for
Homa Bay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, as horse trading
reached its peak among political parties, suspected drug lords, corrupt civil
servants and disgraced officials in their former lives emerged from the wood
works and presented themselves to party bosses as the right and suitable
candidates. These mandarins did not come to party leaders empty handed. They
masqueraded as the real party supporters with the requisite resources to help
party leaders win elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In the end we ended up
with some former permanent secretaries and ambassadors who had embezzled public
funds for decades in the Central government. And when they saw the billions
allocated from the treasury to their counties their adrenalin shot up many
times over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">They hurriedly put
together budgets that had nothing to do with devolved services but rather for
their personal grandeur.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Suddenly the talk of the town was the
governor’s palatial home, grand office block, and top of the range fuel
guzzlers for top officers, millions of shillings in allowances and pornography
campaigns for the governor. Millions more were set aside for several trips
abroad and retreats to the Coast for the governor and his cabinet and of course
a retinue of handlers. Suddenly some governors had moved in to hotels with
their families for all sorts of reason. While some moved in as they waited for
their palatial homes to be built or renovated, others moved it to attend
petition cases against them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The era of the gravy train
was indeed with us in our counties. It would be awhile before Kenyans rose up
against this blatant greed that has been devolved to our counties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-22488206292909074642013-10-23T19:04:00.002+03:002013-10-23T19:19:03.182+03:00OF WOLVES AND LOOTERS OF WESTGATE MALL<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">October 23, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">John Allan Namu is a great
Kenyan. Hate him or love him but he delivers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">On Tuesday night I stayed
late to watch his latest expose on Westgate saga. He did not disappoint. When
it was over I could not sleep. I kept on thinking of my country Kenya. I kept
wondering what had really gone wrong with my beautiful country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Then I remembered the
Norfolk bombing of 1980, the American Embassy and surrounding buildings of
1998. Then Kikambala came flying through my memory like a kite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I remembered that in 2010
during the World Cup finals, Ugandans were gathered in their droves in their
most popular spot. On that day their joy was never to be. Al Shabaabs chose to
make minced meat of Ugandan innocent people. Before that, they had attacked a
Kampala bound bus from Nairobi that was full of Ugandans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">These two heinous acts
made the Uganda government to make a conscious decision to deal with Al
Shabaabs wherever they were. With available technology, they were hunted one by
one from their Kenyan hideouts and shipped out to Uganda where they probably
met hell on earth. Since then, no other attacks have taken place on Ugandan
soil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Next door Tanzania, it is
almost impossible to hear of Al Shabaab operatives bombing Dar es Salaam at
will. However, Nairobi has become a play ground for these murderers. They come
and bomb us at will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The reason we are
suffering is because our leaders love money too much. When criminals come with
loads of cash to open fake business accounts, buy apartments or rent posh
residential areas, we take their money and look the other way. Whatever they do
thereafter is not our concern. It is the reason every lowlife foreigner holds a
Kenyan passport and an ID card. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Never mind that they don’t
know where their grandmothers were buried, the name of their chief and a single
world in Kiswahili.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Today, Eastleigh and the
rest of Eastlands of Nairobi no longer belong to Nairobi. They were annexed a
long time ago by Mogadishu and Juba. The more up market Fedha Estate area,
Green Fields, Embakasi, South B, South C and Makadara residential areas have
equally gone to Mogadishu grabbers. Now they have moved in droves to Milimani,
Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Lavington, Mulolongo and the whole of Athi River all the
way to Namanga. If today you visit Kajiado which is the traditional Maasai
city, you may not recognize it. It went to our foreign friends a long time ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This background only helps
us to understand the reason why Kenya is a soft target for terrorists. With
this large population that is not vetted, it was easy for the wolves of
Westgate and the white widow to find accommodation and assemble their deadly
weapons of mass destruction right under our noses and plan evil at will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Going through memory lane,
where did the rain start beating us? When the Artur Brothers walked into Kenya
and terrorized us for six good months with the full knowledge of the government
of the day, what did we do? When the brothers invaded the Standard Newspaper
and destroyed equipment and set a blaze news papers, what did we do? Didn’t we
call them investors and gave them unprecedented privileges?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Is it not in Kenya where
an ordinary civilian in the Rift Valley made himself Deputy Commissioner of Police
without the knowledge of the Police Commissioner?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">How many times between
Kikambala bombings and today have we arrested terrorists and released them for
lack of evidence? Or was money always changing hands?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When the Kenya Defence
Forces, the Recce GSU Squad and the police stormed Westgate to release
hostages, did these armed forces focus on the problem at hand or were they
distracted by sudden wealth to be looted? Did the police and KDF briefly
exchange fire to gain an upper hand?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The wolves came to Nairobi
to kill human beings. They were not interested in cash, jewellery or other
valuable items. Why did it take a whole army of Kenyan Police and KDF to get
rid of just a handful of wolves who even had time to wash their feet and pray
in Nakumatt?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Who set the building on
fire and ordered the KDF to get “water” from Nakumatt when KDF have enough
water to last them a life time?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As we move on with our
lives, we hope that one day, someone more credible will tell Kenyans the truth
about what happened at Westgate so that the relatives of the departed will be
at peace with themselves. On this score Minister Ole Lenku and KDF Chief of
Staff have let Kenyans down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-38482755956806403782013-10-23T19:00:00.000+03:002013-10-23T19:07:57.408+03:00EXCLUSIVE CONFESSION OF A PERSON BEHIND THE WESTGATE ATTACK!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 18.75pt; margin-right: 18.75pt; margin-top: 7.5pt; mso-line-height-alt: 15.6pt; mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;">
<i style="color: #333333; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 15pt; text-align: left;"><b>The views expressed here including errors and propaganda there in are not necessarily those of the publisher but are the full responsibility of the author.</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><b>Editor</b></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My name is Omar Abdi. I think Kenyans deserve
to know the truth about what happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I joined KDF in 2006 and have been posted to
various missions and at the same time I was an Islamic fighter. I have
also been paid to train Islamic fighters 2006 when we fought the Ethiopians for
the Islamic courts union.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We were paid directly a man called Gabre Halake,
he is from Eritrea. At that time we were told the money was from Eritrea
government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We were at a place called Beledweyne and we
could meet a man called Indho Ade for more money and guns. These we used to
fight at Jilib. We sacrificed a lot but at that point, we lost contact with Gabre
Halake and Indho Ade. Only Sharif Sheikh Ahmed could meet us at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We lost many fighters. Some of us foreign
fighters left. I came back to Kenya together with a man named Abdi Wahid. We
later learnt that Sharif Sheikh Ahmed came to Kenya and was arrested and
guarded at a hotel. There is a time we visited him around late January in 2007
and he told us he would soon leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Abdi Wahid, and a man named Farah Eyrow were
there. It was hard for me because I was in the KDF and also paid to train
Islamic fighters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kenya was at that time viewed as sympathetic
to Ethiopia. Three days later, Sharif sheikh Ahmed left Kenya to Yemen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His release was easy because he had a lot of
money and connections with senior Muslim officials in Kenya government. He was
especially helped by a by powerful Muslim lawyer in Kenya who organized the
money for the police and court judges. Most of this money is from pirates and
most of the time it is handled by this lawyer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From this time until early 2009 I did not take
part in any more fighting in Somalia. But I was in contact with the former
Islamic fighters I had met there especially Abdi Wahid. I also again met Sharif
sheikh in 2009 when he was chosen as the president of the transitional
government. I also met Abdurrahman Janaqow who is from Murusade clan where my
wife is from. A man called Mohamed Qalaf was also there. I was requested to
come back to Somalia to help set up a fighter group for the government under
Hussein Isse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When Ethiopia left Somalia, our fighting group
was controlling much of the southern part of Somalia. There were several fights
including outside Kenya. Some of our fighters lost their lives in Uganda in
suicide missions. That’s the time Mohamud Raghe was in charge under Abu Zubeyr.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later Raghe also commanded fighters who killed
people watching football in a restaurant in Mombasa. I left Somalia and came to
Kenya but went to Mombasa to live in a house owned by Abdi Wahid. In the
same house was a white woman whom I later was told is Wahid’s friend. Other
Muslims lived in houses within the same compound. That’s where I met a man
called Habib Gani who is a bomb expert and Mussa Abdi who was killed that same
year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I left the house of Abdi in May 2011 but we
kept in touch. He was traveling so much to Europe and there are times when he
was arrested and released but we could talk on phone. When KDF went to fight in
Somalia, I was in Kenya. I had already asked to leave KDF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I stayed for over one year in Mombasa. Al Shabaab
was paying fighters very good money for killings and for kidnappings. Most
fighters were from Afmadow but some lived in Mombasa. The ones in Kenya were
organized by Habib Gani who later left Kenya and went to fight in Somalia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In May this year, I received a call from a
person who said he was with me in KDF. He wanted me to help them. It was
strange because KDF has so many fighters and at this time, several Islamic
fighters were kidnapped and killed. So I was very careful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I asked to meet this man at a hotel in Nairobi
but I did not go. Instead asked him to meet me at another hotel nearby just
near a petrol station in Koinange Street. I was at the petrol station and only
went to the hotel after 10 minutes. The man told me his name is Yusuf and that
he does not work for the KDF but for Kenya security intelligence. He wanted me
to help them know where Abdi Wahid was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was every hard because the new al Shabaab
leader was killing rival fighters but I knew Abdi Wahid was not a rival. It was
difficult trusting anyone who knew the name of fighters. The Kenya intelligence
man told me they knew about Omar Sheik and that they would find Abdi Wahid
without my help, but they would pay me good money if I gave them his contacts.
I gave him his Kenyan number and another he uses when in Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In August this year, I came to learn that Omar
Shafik was shot and killed in Somalia. I was in Mombasa at this time when Yusuf
called me again and i came to Nairobi. I met him and a white woman he told me
is called Nassim Halima. Nassim is a woman I had met in Wahid’s house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She had changed so much but I could recognize
her. She wanted me to meet a man called Saleh. We went to a house in Majengo.
At that meeting, Saleh asked me to help them attack a big shopping building
where lots of Europeans and Americans go. I initially thought this was a setup
because Yusuf had told me Saleh had been working with Omar Sheik’s fighters to
kidnap and kill foreigners in Mombasa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saleh also told me that the new commander in
chief was aware and what we were going to do was to help him fight America and
nothing would go wrong. He also told me that fighters from Europe and
America would be used. I was to help them get vehicles and a house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At this point, I was still very afraid because
i could not believe the commander in chief would be involved and i was also not
aware of any date or place of attack. During my period in KDF, I had gone to
train fighters in Somalia for al Shabaab but I never heard of any
communications between the leaders of al Shabaab and any senior government
officials in Kenya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I again met Yusuf that week. He came with
another man who did not speak any Kiswahili. We drove around Nairobi for a
while and went to Sarit Centre. We were joined by two other men who also did
not speak Kiswahili. We left and went to a house nearby<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was at that time that I knew we were to
attack Westgate because several pictures of Westgate were on the wall of this
house. There were also pictures of al Mansoor on the wall and several verses
from Quran written on the Westgate pictures. Yusuf explained how the attack
would take place; several weapons were already inside Westgate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He also said the fighters already knew the
inside of the building after going through training. That evening I left with
Yusuf and the three men remained in the house. I was staying at a hotel and
Yusuf told me to change locations. By this time, I had been paid 5 million in
cash for getting three vehicles and as part of my payment. We agreed to meet
again the following week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yusuf never called, and his phone was off. It
was almost three weeks later when another man called me and told me that I
would only talk to him from that time. He said he would call again. On 20th
September the same man called me using a different number and asked that we
meet at Jamia Mosque in the evening. I had by now shared this with a very close
friend of mine. He was a fighter though not actively because his father was a
very senior man in the previous government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That evening we met at a hotel called Jamyat
near the mosque. The man did not tell me his name but said he was with
intelligence and works with Yusuf. He gave me a briefcase with money and told
me that if I have a family at Westgate then I should find ways of making them
not go there on Saturday. He also said two other attackers and more weapons
were brought in from Somalia border using a helicopter belonging to a very
senior person in government. We then went with the man to Majengo where the
vehicles were kept.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I gave him the keys, agreed to meet at the
house near Sarit and I left. The following morning I was at the house
around <a href="http://0.0.0.1/"><span style="color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">10am</span></a>. I found only two vehicles at the
parking. I again met Yusuf and four other men and a woman who was not Somali.
She made phone calls and spoke in Kikuyu. Three of these men are the same ones
I had met before. Yusuf told me that I was to drive one vehicle to Westgate
then drive away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although we had not agreed about this, I
agreed. At around midday, both Yusuf and the other intelligence man were
constantly talking on their phones. They seemed to be talking to people inside Westgate
because they asked if things are ready at the building. Yusuf asked on phone if
the important people have been removed and said it would go on even if those
people are not removed because we had agreed to stick to the agreed time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I didn’t know who these people were but
I later came to know that some members of the president’s family were in the
building. We left the house about twenty minutes later in two vehicles. Both
Yusuf and the intelligence man were in the white car I was driving and they got
off at Peponi road. The other car used the other road near the smaller nakumatt
supermarket. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I drove to the front of the building and
stopped and the fighters jumped off then I drove away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That night at around midnight, someone called
me to say that I should change my phone number and throw away the phone. I
called Yusuf and the other intelligence man but their phones were off. I also
received another call the following morning to tell me that I should not travel
outside Nairobi. The person told me that the fighters had all left but the
building would be blown using the other third car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I knew he was not saying the truth because
fighting was still going on at the building. Despite his warning that I don’t
leave Nairobi, I left and travelled to Mombasa. Two weeks after the attack,
three men came to my house and asked my wife to inform me that they were my
friends and asked to see me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They told her they would be back the following
day. That evening, I told my wife to leave Mombasa and go to her sister. I also
left. Four days after that, I called a man known as Mahat whom I was with in
KDF, and who had also met Abdi Wahid. He told me that Abdi Wahid was in Kenya
but already left for Europe. Two of his friends had been arrested at the
airport but released.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I write this in good faith. If I betray
someone may Allah have mercy on my soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by <a href="http://kalamallahh.wordpress.com/author/abdiomar2013/"><span style="color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">abdiomar2013</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-66228389789168620442013-08-16T17:11:00.004+03:002013-08-16T17:11:46.246+03:00WHEN THE HEARTBEAT OF EASTERN AFRICA WAS A BLAZE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">August 14, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For decades, Nairobi has
gained the reputation as the business hub of East Africa. For years we have
taken it for granted that whatever happens in Nairobi and Kenya for that matter
is likely to be felt in the entire region. The reality is Nairobi is more than
a hub to the people of East Africa. It is indeed the heart beat of the region
that pumps blood into the commercial life of Eastern Africa. Anything that makes
this heart skip a beat has serious consequences for the normal life of the
region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Compared to London, New
York, Amsterdam or even Paris, Nairobi international airport is a dwarf among
international air travel giants. However, back home here in Africa, the amount
of traffic and air travel connectivity can only compare with South Africa’s
Oliver Tambo International Airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In our region, Nairobi
International Airport serves airlines from Entebbe, Kigali, Bujumbura, Dar es
Salaam, Kilimanjaro Airport, Addis Ababa, Mogadishu, Khartoum, Juba and
Kinshasa among others. JKIA is the regional operators’ stepping stone to the
rest of the world. It was the reason when rebel soldiers closed the airport in
1982; the repercussions were felt far and wide. It was the same reason when
some hooligans uprooted a few railway lines in Kibera in 2008 at the height of
the conflict in Kenya; the repercussions were felt as far as Kampala, Kigali
and Kinshasa not to mention northern Tanzania.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Let us look at the
consequences of the fire that gutted the arrival terminal of JKIA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A minor fire that started
somewhere between Immigration Department at the Arrival Terminal went out of
control. In a matter of minutes the small fire turned into a blaze that forced
the authorities at Kenya Airports Authority to shut down the entire airport. In
a matter of minutes no planes were allowed to land or take off. Incoming
flights were diverted to Mombasa, Entebbe, Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro
airports. It was a chaotic scene not just in Nairobi but in all the other
airports to which the flights were diverted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This latest fire disaster
at JKIA reminded me of an incident in which I was involved way back in 1987.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It was one of those
mornings that I took a local flight from Nairobi to Kisumu. At that time the
only airline that operated from Nairobi to Kisumu was a Kenya Airways Fokker27.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As we approached the
Kisumu Airport flying over Lake Victoria, we realized that the plane was not
descending. We flew over the tiny airport twice when the pilot announced that
the wheels had jammed making it difficult for him to land in Kisumu. He
informed us that our only choice was to fly back to Nairobi however; he faced
another problem- he was running out of fuel!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">His reason for flying back
to JKIA was because Kisumu had no Emergency Landing facilities like fire
fighters, doctors, nurses, medical equipment and ambulances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Half way through our
flight to JKIA, the pilot chose to prepare us for emergency landing explaining
that when the plane crash lands, it nose dives making it impossible for front
seat passengers to survive. We were therefore ordered to vacate our front seats
and stand at the back for those who had no seats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">To say that we were a
frightened lot is an understatement. I drank all the whiskies I could lay my
hands on because I knew that this was it. We were either going crash in
mountains of Rift Valley due to fuel shortage or if we made it to JKIA, the
hard concrete on the runway was waiting for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When we got to JKIA, the
first thing I saw was a sea of ambulances, white coated medical personnel,
countless fire fighting trucks with fire
men at the ready. Yes, there was maximum emergency preparedness for a Fokker
27. But again, that level of seriousness also told us that we were in real
danger of dying that morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Our good pilot tried to
land twice and twice he failed. I think he was praying for a miracle to happen
so that he could unlock the wheels. On the third attempt, his prayers were
answered and the wheels unlocked! We clapped, cheered and cried with joy at the
same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If 26 years ago, there was
that level of preparedness at JKIA what has happened to the JKIA management
nearly three decades later? If we could have competent emergency services those
many years ago, what has happened in between? How could a small fire which
could have been put out by a handheld fire extinguisher be allowed to consume
the entire arrival terminal, Immigration and Customs Departments? What happened
to regular Emergency Drills were used to in years gone by?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If Kenya Airways alone
lost US $ 4 million in those three days of chaos, how many losses were incurred
by airlines from Entebbe, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Addis Ababa,
Amsterdam and London that had to deal with stranded passengers in their airports?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What of business premises
that and hoteliers operated their outfits at the arrival terminal? Who will
compensate them for their losses? What if their insurers decline their claims
on suspicion that it was arson?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The heartbeat of East
Africa needs better than this!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-35411372927754280612013-08-16T17:09:00.003+03:002013-08-16T17:09:18.183+03:00MOST GOVERNORS HAVE DEVOLVED IMPUNITY TO THE COUNTIES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">August 14, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The sorry tale of
governors we recently elected to devolve services to our villages is a sad one.
Kenyans are beginning to question the wisdom of having devolved the government
so soon after the elections. Perhaps this is God’s way of punishing an
electorate that never learns from its past mistakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The root cause of the
early rot we are seeing in our counties lies in the fact that at all levels of government;
there was no credible election right from the party primaries. Election malpractices
by all parties were the order of the day. Party owners chose to plant their
cronies in positions of power at the expense of democracy. They sacrificed
democracy at the altar of mediocrity. And now, through the governors, CMAs and
MPs we are reaping the fruits of that mediocrity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, before we even
condemn governors, let us turn our attention to that august house that calls
itself the National Assembly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When it opened its doors
to the first business of the day, we saw greed in its raw form. And for the
first time we saw a different side of politicians. They are only divided in the
quest for state power but united in greed. During the debate on their salaries,
it was difficult to distinguish between Jubilee and Cord MPs. In fact Cord MPs
were more militant in their support for the Leader of Majority than the Jubilee
legislators. Ripping the treasury was a life and death assignment for some of
them especially the new MPs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When Madam Serem succumbed
to the demands of MPs with assistance from William Ruto, the floodgates were
open. Suddenly teachers, doctors, County Assembly Representations and
university lecturers joined in the band wagon. MPs had proved to them that there
was cash to be dished out. As the saying goes, for every action, there is an
equal and opposite reaction. To put it better, every action is bound to have a
ripple effect which can either be positive or negative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">When William Ruto went to
arm twist Sarah Serem to give the MPs their demands, one hopes he anticipated
the consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The governors’ case is a
unique tragic realization for Kenyans. When Kenyans fought tooth and nail to
have a constitution with devolved governments, they were tired of biased
distribution of national resources. They were tired of an all powerful
presidency. They were tired of greedy MPs who only minded their personal
aggrandizement. They thought the devolved governments would take them to
Canaan. They were wrong all the way. Now the reality is dawning on some
counties that they might have jumped from the frying pan to the fire itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In Kenya, everything seems
to be going wrong with the devolution. If mandarins of the National government
are not busy sabotaging the process, the chairman of the Transitional Authority
seems visibly lost most of the time. In fact by merely looking at the TA
Chairman, one wonders where he was fished from. He doesn’t inspire any
confidence among the people he is supposed to assist through the transition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In the run up to the March
4 elections, there were so many discussions about the type of people that
counties should elect as governors. The advice was to elect people with
business background in the private sector, those that had experience in
handling enterprises. It was the reason Evans Kidero became attractive to the
people of Nairobi and Cyprian Awiti was thought to be a suitable candidate for
Homa Bay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, as horse trading
reached its peak among political parties, suspected drug lords, corrupt civil
servants and disgraced officials in their former lives emerged from the wood
works and presented themselves to party bosses as the right and suitable
candidates. These mandarins did not come to party leaders empty handed. They
masqueraded as the real party supporters with the requisite resources to help
party leaders win elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In the end we ended up
with some former permanent secretaries and ambassadors who had embezzled public
funds for decades in the Central government. And when they saw the billions
allocated from the treasury to their counties their adrenalin shot up many
times over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">They hurriedly put
together budgets that had nothing to do with devolved services but rather for
their personal grandeur.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Suddenly the talk of the town was the
governor’s palatial home, grand office block, and top of the range fuel
guzzlers for top officers, millions of shillings in allowances and pornography
campaigns for the governor. Millions more were set aside for several trips
abroad and retreats to the Coast for the governor and his cabinet and of course
a retinue of handlers. Suddenly some governors had moved in to hotels with
their families for all sorts of reason. While some moved in as they waited for
their palatial homes to be built or renovated, others moved it to attend
petition cases against them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The era of the gravy train
was indeed with us in our counties. It would be awhile before Kenyans rose up
against this blatant greed that has been devolved to our counties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-62647045349404850952013-08-16T16:41:00.002+03:002013-08-16T16:41:29.792+03:00PUNISHING SO-CALLED OPPOSITION ZONES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="gE iv gt" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; cursor: auto; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px; padding: 10px 0px 3px;">
<table cellpadding="0" class="cf gJ" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-top: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody>
<tr class="acZ" style="height: 16px;"><td class="gF gK" style="margin: 0px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap; width: 235.3333282470703px;"><br /></td><td class="gH" style="color: #222222; margin: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;"><div class="gK" style="padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div aria-checked="false" aria-label="Starred" class="zd" role="checkbox" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 20px; outline: 0px;" tabindex="-1">
<span class="T-KT" style="display: inline-block; height: 19px; margin: -4px 0px; padding: 2px; text-align: center; width: 19px;"><img alt="" class="f T-KT-JX" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="margin-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" /></span></div>
</div>
</td><td class="gH" style="color: #222222; margin: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;"></td><td class="gH acX" rowspan="2" style="color: #222222; margin: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;"><div class="T-I J-J5-Ji T-I-Js-IF aaq T-I-ax7 L3" role="button" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; background-color: whitesmoke; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgb(245, 245, 245), rgb(241, 241, 241)); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); box-shadow: none; color: #444444; cursor: default; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; height: 27px; line-height: 27px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -8px; min-width: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 8px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 1;" tabindex="0" title="Reply">
<img alt="" class="hB T-I-J3" role="button" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="background-image: url(https://ssl.gstatic.com/mail/sprites/general-f471e1516770e9528f3dcf0a635516de.png); background-position: 0px -191px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 21px; margin-top: -3px; opacity: 0.55; vertical-align: middle; width: 21px;" /></div>
<div class="T-I J-J5-Ji T-I-Js-Gs aap T-I-awG T-I-ax7 L3" id=":1ja" role="button" style="-webkit-box-shadow: none; background-color: whitesmoke; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgb(245, 245, 245), rgb(241, 241, 241)); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); box-shadow: none; color: #444444; cursor: default; display: inline-block; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; height: 27px; line-height: 27px; margin-left: -1px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -8px; min-width: 21px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; z-index: 1;" tabindex="0" title="More">
<img alt="" class="hA T-I-J3" role="menu" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" style="background-image: url(https://ssl.gstatic.com/mail/sprites/general-f471e1516770e9528f3dcf0a635516de.png); background-position: 0px -66px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; height: 21px; margin-top: -3px; opacity: 0.55; vertical-align: middle; width: 21px;" /></div>
</td></tr>
<tr class="acZ xD" style="height: 16px;"><td colspan="3" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">P. Anyang' Nyong'o</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="ii gt m1408521bd9548862 adP adO" id=":1lc" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; direction: ltr; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px; margin: 5px 15px 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; position: relative; z-index: 0;">
<div id=":1l1" style="overflow: hidden;">
<br />I was dismayed recently when I heard one Presidential advisor by the name Kuttuny haranguing his listeners somewhere in South Nyanza that they must stop their leaders from criticising the Jubilee government "if you want the government to give you development." Young as he is in age Kuttuny has his mental make up stuck in the Nyayo era when such speeches were on the menu of KANU political sycophants mounting any political platform across the Kenyan republic. At that point in time government services were dispensed to the people as a favour; they rarely received it as a right they deserved by dint of being Kenyan citizens and tax payers.<br /><br />Times have, of course, changed with the new constitution which provides Kenyans with both individual and people's rights and puts sovereignty and power in the hands of the people. When citizens exercise their constitutional rights and choose a government, or when they have a government they have not chosen exercise political power over them, they still retain their right to be served by the government notwithstanding their political persuasion. After all, Kenyans pay taxes to the government even when they disapprove of the way the government is run. It is therefore unconstitutional for Kuttuny to intimidate any Kenyan anywhere in this republic that government can only provide services on condition that a Kenyan citizen "works with the government".<br /><br />Paying VAT is a good enough sign that a Kenyan works with and for the government no matter which individual is the President at any actual time. Paying income tax is equally a strong expression of citizenship responsibility. In the final analysis voting itself shows a citizen has the passion to determine what type of government comes to power in Kenya. Kuttuny has the right to question the voting preference of any citizen. But he is definitely out of order to imagine that his own preference is good enough to deny a citizen who disagrees with him government services.<br /><br />It is often said that democracy is where the majority have their way while the minority have their say. This is only true as long as we are looking strictly at the Anglo- Saxon version of liberal parliamentary democracy restricted to "first past the goal post" principle. Elsewhere democracy, as a government "of the people, by the people and for the people", has evolved tremendously to go beyond individual choices to people's choices as well. Hence the emphasis on people representation, proportional representation and devolution of power.<br /><br />Kenya is just beginning to travel this direction in the new constitution. A little bit of proportional representation has been tried through representation of youth, women and people with disability. These people live everywhere in Kenya and come from diverse political persuasions. They need not come from the same school of thought so that their interests are reflected in the way government services are delivered.<br /><br />Nonetheless our version of proportional representation is still what I call "segmental proportionalism". It can very easily amount to "tokenism" when the numbers of those represented through this process do not make much of a difference.<br /><br />We need to go further and let the people be represented both in the legislature and the executive according to their political preferences as well as their demographic size. When this is done together with the devolution of political power, then there will never arise a situation where any Kuttuny can think that some part of Kenya is not represented in government. All Kenyans will be in government in proportion to their demographic size as well as their political preference.<br /><br />The question now to be asked is whether the presidential system of government as we know it today can be accommodated in this particular democratic government we are talking about. The answer, unfortunately, is no. What we have done in this constitution is to retain the presidentialism of the old constitution within the context of a devolved system of government and segmental proportionalism and we are finding out that the mongrel is not moving well. It wont move well. It cant move well. The solution, however, is not to throw the baby away with the bath water but to pick up the baby, put it in a new bath tab and get some clean warm water to bathe it in.<br /><br />In the run up to the making of the current constitution some of us rooted strongly for a parliamentary system of government with proportional representation as well as devolution. But we lost out. Even the amendments we proposed in parliament could not be debated due to the limited time within which Parliament had to pass the constitution. But all is not lost.<br /><br />It is in this context that we must soberly look at our constitution, eschew any grand standing and state very clearly that we want to go beyond where we have reached so far and create a system of government where all Kenyans feel at home. At the moment this is obviously not the case, however much we may try to pretend that all is well and we should simply "move on." indeed, looking at the problems we face squarely and frankly is part of moving in; it is a holistic moving on and not a partisan moving on.</div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-22590754396533512192013-08-09T17:57:00.000+03:002013-08-09T17:57:29.046+03:00IS JUBILEE REGIME ITCHING TO TAKE KENYA BACK TO THE 1960s?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">July 29, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The year is 1963. Kenya becomes independent from
British rule under the Lancaster Constitution. A year later, sections of the
Lancaster constitution are amended to allow for the dissolution of the
opposition party. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Following the dissolution
of KADU, Kenyatta makes another tactical move to dissolve the many centres of
power that the Lancaster Constitution had created to safeguard the interests of
the regions and minority tribes. This move sees the death of the Senate and
Regional Assemblies. And with KADU having died earlier, the supremacy of the
Executive begins to be felt all over the country. Now it is possible for the
Leader of Government Business and the Attorney General to move any bill in
parliament with a certain level of confidence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">With the coming into the
cabinet of former KADU leaders, Ronald Ngala and Daniel arap Moi, cracks begin
to emerge in KANU. Factions are formed along leading lights in KANU. There are
pro Odinga and pro Kenyatta factions. Kenyatta however gets the backing of Tom
Mboya, the KANU Secretary General for a good reason. Mboya wants to succeed
Kenyatta when the time comes, never mind that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga is the
sitting Vice President and heir apparent to Jomo Kenyatta. Indeed it is clear
to all and sundry that Mboya and Odinga are political rivals-never mind that
they both come from Nyanza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As these intrigues,
fuelled by international spy agencies, pick momentum, the stage is set for
early brutal assassinations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The first giant to fall is
Pio Gama Pinto who gets shot dead in Parklands Nairobi. Pinto was known to be
Jaramogi Odinga’s chief ideologue and was feared by most operatives in KANU
including Jomo Kenyatta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The death of Pinto, though
a Goan devastates not only Jaramogi Odinga but also fellow comrade in the
struggle, Joseph Murumbi who is the Foreign Minister at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The same year that Pinto
dies, the relations between Jaramogi and Jomo become more strained. To
observers in and outside government; it is just a matter of time before battle
for supremacy is fought in the public arena.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Then the bubble goes bust
on March 13 1966 at the Limuru Conference Centre. And as Karega Munene captures
the moment in his Wajibu Series,<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">“<b><i>The ethnic maneuvers by the troika of Kenyan politics and their
lieutenants culminated in the 13 March 1966 KANU national delegates meeting at
the Limuru Conference Centre, ostensibly to hold party elections. As it soon
emerged, the meeting's agenda was to get rid of the then KANU Vice-President
who was also the country's Vice-President, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. The
key architect of the organizational format, who was used in cutting Oginga
Odinga to size at the meeting, was Tom Mboya. By using Mboya in this way,
Kenyatta probably intended to blunt charges of tribalism that could easily have
been levelled against him (as a Gikuyu leader) at the time. To a casual
observer, the political intrigue and battle was simply a Luo affair.”<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">This move by Kenyatta and Mboya against Jaramogi has predictable
consequences. They know that Jaramogi will surely be furious and likely to
resign in a huff. And that is what happens. Jaramogi resigns the same day as
KANU Vice President and Vice President of the country and a few days later
forms the first post independence opposition party- KPU- Kenya Peoples Union.
Remember, this happens before any amendment in the Standing Orders of
Parliament or the Constitution requiring MPs that opt to join a new party to
return to the electorate to seek a fresh mandate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">For this reason, Jaramogi’s KPU causes a common in parliament and panic
in the Kenyatta cabinet. Left unchecked, Jaramogi’s new party has the potential
to bring down Jomo’s government. For this reason, Mboya is detailed to move a
motion in parliament to compel any MP who crosses the floor to resign his seat
and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">Subsequently the Speaker of the National Assembly declares seats of
those MPs that had crossed the floor vacant and a by election is set. This is
what culminates in the now famous “Little General Election of 1966”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">The aftermath of the 1966 “Little General Elections” is a disaster for
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. It spells the death knell for his political career
without him knowing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">The behavior of KANU, particularly that of Tom Mboya ensures that KPU
loses massively in Local Government Councils and Parliament. Just a few days
before the elections, Mboya tours the whole country castigating KPU and
Odinga’s pesa nane politics. He goes ahead and ropes in the Provincial
Administration to vet and disqualify as many of KPU candidates as possible such
that most KANU candidates are elected unopposed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">At the end of the day, some of Jaramogi’s most prominent figures in KPU
like Bildad Kaggia and Achieng Oneko lose in their constituencies. Odinga ends
up with about six KPU MPs, a number that finally becomes ineffective in
parliament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">With Jaramogi neutralized, Kenyatta systematically begins to get rid of
Luo appointees in government particularly if their appointments were courtesy
of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. This political witch hunting goes on until January
29 1969 when Argwings Kodhek, the Foreign Minister dies in a mysterious road
accident in Nairobi. Six months later, his fellow cabinet minister, Tom Mboya
is also assassinated along Government Road in Nairobi on July 5 1969.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">The aftermath of Mboya’s assassination is followed by a fracas in Kisumu
involving Jomo Kenyatta where eleven civilians are shot dead, Odinga and all
KPU MPs detained and KPU banned. This further worsens the plight of Luos that
remained in the Kenyatta regime as more purging takes place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">Is the Uhuru regime likely to read from the same script in dealing with
Raila Odinga four decades later?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com"><span style="background: white; font-size: 14.0pt;">jerryokungu@gmail.com</span></a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-20468245167954850032013-08-08T11:54:00.001+03:002013-08-08T11:54:22.758+03:00MORE ON NATIONAL COHESION<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">P. Anyang' Nyong'o</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Following my article last Sunday on ethnicity as the elephant in the room in our Kenyan society, one of my readers, Hezron Kimeli Cheruiyot, wondered why we keep on belabouring the examples of Singapore, Malaysia and S. Korea over and over again without doing something concrete about it. As far as Cheruiyot is concerned, "we will never learn anything. It seems we will need policies for everything," he asserts. "My take is this: the day the big tribe relinquishes power to others, we will have achieved the objective outlined in your article. Anything else is hot air and wishful thinking," concluded Cheruiyot.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">On reading the same article Alice Nderitu of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) called me to appreciate what she read but also to draw my attention to a major policy document the Commission produced this year entitled "Kenya Ethnic and Race Relations Framework." I went through this document carefully and discovered that it deals with the issues bothering Cheruiyot while going further to propose what needs to be done urgently to promote national cohesion and integration in Kenya. In this regard multiculturalism, ethnic and racial tolerance, ethnic and racial inclusion in all spheres of national life and acceptance of diversity must be the basic principles for promoting national cohesion at the individual and societal levels. But, as Cheruiyot points out, Kenya needs a government committed to implementing the ideals of national cohesion and integration if we are to transit from mere wishes to real change in our lifetime.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">By the very nature of our upbringing as former colonial subjects we have been prone to learn and practice bad manners regarding our attitudes to others who are not part of our ethnic community. Precisely because the colonialists integrated us into the colonial political economy differentially as Luhyias, Kikuyus, Luos, Majikendas, Kisiis, Njemps, Ndorobos, Kalenjins and so on, we should not have retained, reproduced and perpetuated this state of affairs way into our post-colonial life. But we did and we continue to, hence the pent up resentments that frequently burst into inter-ethnic conflicts in our society from time to time.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) therefore proposes that we must make a break with our colonial past and our post-colonial perpetuation of the inequalities, prejudices and iniquities from this past by embracing its "Framework for ethnic and race relations in Kenya." It observes from the start that the Constitution that we promulgated on August 27, 2010, provides us with a tremendous opportunity to do this since it provides a much more enlightened and progressive framework for creating a more inclusive, tolerant and multicultural nation. What are the steps to be taken in doing this?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">First, the Commission itself must live up to its stated objective of "facilitating and promoting equality of opportunity, good relations, harmony and peaceful coexistence between persons of the different ethnic and racial communities in Kenya, and advising the government on all aspects thereof." But since it was established almost five years ago, one wonders whether the government has taken any advice from the Commission seriously. The investigations that have been done into the various ministries and parastatals to find out the extent to which they promote or discourage national cohesion in their employment practices do not seem to have mounted to much. Should we therefore accept Cheruiyot's pessimism and "move on" or should we keep on hammering the message home until one day it will sink into someone's ear with enough political clout to act and change things?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Second, the NCIC is of the opinion that building a positive and integrative legal framework over time is important in laying the foundation on which change will be built to promote national cohesion and integration. In this regard the constitution is a major milestone in the march forward. It is reinforced by many other international laws and conventions which we have domesticated and which no doubt compel our government and people to accept certain universal values governing individual and peoples rights and behaviour as part of the global community of civilised nations.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Thus any form of ethnic, racial, gender, age or religious discrimination should not find a place in social, economic and political life in Kenya today. Education, for example, should be accessible to all Kenyans and should aim at giving every individual the opportunity for self improvement and development. But given the fact that in the past certain communities in certain spheres of life have enjoyed undue advantage over others due to their proximity to state power, adjustments need to be consciously undertaken to eliminate the gaps created by historically conditioned discrimination adversely affecting certain communities.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Third, in order to eliminate such gaps created through our past history, facts need to be dispassionately ventilated and objectively dealt with through well knit public policies and well developed implementation strategies. Kenyans should not live in denial but should be innovative and proactive.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">In summary, all sectors of the Kenyan society need to develop and implement ethnic and race relations policies in line with this Framework established by the Commission. Every year, all institutions concerned will publish reports on their own experiences and achievements that the Commission can audit before they are tabled in Parliament or in County Assemblies as the case may be. Procedures to be followed will be worked out by the Commission and approved by Parliament.</span></div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-37907812625638870822013-08-02T13:37:00.004+03:002013-08-02T13:37:59.011+03:00WHO WE ARE AND WHAT KENYA IS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">By P. Anyang' Nyong'o</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">August first, a debate erupted in the Senate regarding ethnic representation in the government. Making a contribution to a motion I had moved on reforms in the police service and proposals to amend the Police Service Commission Act as well as the Police Service Act, Senator Bony Khalwale alleged that three ethnic groups received more than their fair share in the composition of the current government in the Cabinet and at the level of principal secretaries. He further went on to say that the same is true with the Police Service. Asked to substantiate he produced a report from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission showing that two communities dominate the police service.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Without going into the details regarding the discussions that ensued in the Senate, their merits and demerits, it was the proposal advanced by Sen. Kiraitu Murungi that recognised the gravity of the issue at hand and offered a practical and concrete solution that can help Kenya get out of the dangers of the politics of ethnic domination that has been our bane since independence. Senator Murungi, subsequently supported by Senators Chris Obure and Moses Wetang'ula, gave the example of Singapore-- and Malaysia--where ethnic diversity has been creatively used to enhance national integration and nationhood.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Malaysia became independent in 1965. It had more or less the same level of development as Kenya. In a society that comprised diverse ethnic communities: Malays being 60% of the population, Chinese 25%, Indians 10% and the rest 5%, the Malaysian elites decided to strike what they called "the bargain" in constituting their government and initiating national development. The idea behind "the bargain" was that each community would get their fair share of the "national cake" in proportion to their numbers so as to promote national integration and nationhood.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">In 1969, however, there was a terrible outbreak of urban violence in Kuala Lumpur, the national capital, that unleashed vicious ethnic conflict among the Malaysian people. For two years parliament was suspended while the ruling class searched for a long lasting national solution. In the end a policy was adopted to increase more fairness and equity in development, job creation, use of national and ethnic symbols and so on. in other words, the ethnic problem was not pushed under the rug; instead it was exposed for what it was, confronted, a formula found for dealing with it and the formula implemented transparently.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">In the 1990s a campaign called "Bangsa Malaysia" was launched: this was to drum up ideological and cultural support for Malaysian national integration and nationhood. With a population of 23 million people and a dynamic economy, Maysia hopes to have 80 million people by the year 2100. Even then it will have laid a firm foundation for becoming a prosperous society since the economic development seems to be consciously integrated with cultural integration and coexistence.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">That, of course, is not to say that everything is rosy in Malaysia. Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, the legendary Prime Minister that was behind the great Malaysian achievements since independence, had a tinge of authoritarianism in his politics. But it was a brand of authoritarianism that shunned crony ethnic capitalism while creating a national developmental and democratic state. It is no wonder therefore that Malaysia has gone much further than Kenya in terms of socio-economic development since independence.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">But it is never too late to learn. In fact were we a people who are prepared to learn positive lessons from our history we should have learnt a thing or two from 2003 and 2008. But unfortunately we did not.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Following the elections of December 2002, Kenya produced a government that was perhaps the most legitimate and most representative since the first government of 1963. Kenyans were immediately rated the happiest people on earth and we embarked on an economic recovery strategy that was widely embraced and accepted by Kenyans, hence its resounding success within a very short time. We did not, however, seize that opportunity to discuss a policy to deal with our ethnic diversity nor did we pay close attention to national integration as part and parcel of dismantling the presidential authoritarian regime.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">Soon the fantastic NARC government initiatives started to be drowned in ethnic turf wars as elites sought to use their proximity to the Presidency to enhance politics of exclusion rather than inclusion. It was the primacy given to exclusion politics that messed up the referendum of October 2005, leading inevitably to the collapse of the NARC government and the end of "the honeymoon with happiness". Kenyans immediately became the most ethnically divided nation on earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">It was under that atmosphere of ethnic tension and the tension between inclusion/exclusion politics that we went to the elections of December 2007. The results and the violence that ensued should have radically changed our perception on how we run our politics but they did not. The Grand Coalition Government provided yet another window of opportunity for us to use that experience for future political engineering but we have not done so notwithstanding the useful framework provided by the present constitution. Although the Grand Coalition Government was big and unwieldy it provided the widest representation of ethnic diversity in our republic. It was perhaps the most inclusive government without necessarily being more effective than the NARC government of 2003-2005. The lessons we should have learnt from it was how to use that experience to do another Malaysia-like political project in Kenya.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.666666984558105px;">But Sen. Kiraitu Murungi now seems to have hit the nail on the head and woken us up from our stupid slumber. Rather than wait to have exclusive elections from one year to the other, forming semi-inclusive governments from one year to the other, fighting each other from one election to the other, let us take the bull by the horn and answer this question: how do we create a government, a cabinet, a police service, an army, an education system: in short a nation where ALL Kenyans feel at home? How do we deal with the elephant in the room: our growing ethnic alienation from each other? How do we learn a thing or two from Singapore, Malaysia and perhaps Belgium?</span></div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-16095737234581519762013-07-31T16:52:00.000+03:002013-07-31T16:59:35.453+03:0050 YEARS LATER, JUBILEE REGIME IS HELL BENT ON TAKING KENYA BACK TO 1963<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">July 29, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The year is 1963. Kenya becomes independent from
British rule under the Lancaster Constitution. A year later, sections of the Lancaster
constitution are amended to allow for the dissolution of the opposition party.
This move enables KANU then ruling party to swallow the then only opposition
party KADU<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Following the dissolution
of KADU, Kenyatta makes another tactical to dissolve the many centres of power
that then Lancaster Constitution had created to safeguard the interests of the
regions and minority tribes. This move sees the death of the Senate and
Regional Assemblies. And with KADU having died earlier, the supremacy of the Executive
begins to be felt all over the country. Now it is possible for the Leader of
Government Business and the Attorney General to move and bill in parliament
with a certain level of confidence that such a bill will sail through.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">With the coming into the
cabinet of former KADU leaders, Ronald Ngala and Daniel arap Moi, cracks begin
to emerge in KANU. Factions are formed along leading lights in KANU. There are
pro Odinga and pro Kenyatta factions. Kenyatta however gets the backing of Tom
Mboya the KANU Secretary General for a good reason. Mboya wants to succeed
Kenyatta when the time comes, never mind that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga is the
sitting Vice President and heir apparent to Jomo Kenyatta. Indeed it is clear
to all and sundry that Mboya and Odinga are political rivals-never mind that
they both come from Nyanza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As these intrigues,
fuelled by international spy agencies, pick momentum, the stage is set for
early brutal assassinations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The first giant to fall is
Pio Gama Pinto who gets shot dead in Parklands Nairobi. Pinto was known to be
Jaramogi Odinga’s chief ideologue and was feared by most operatives in KANU
including Jomo Kenya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The death of Pinto, though
a Goan devastates not only Jaramogi Odinga but also fellow comrade in the
struggle, Joseph Murumbi who is the Foreign Minister at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The same year that Pinto
dies, the relations between Jaramogi and Jomo become more strained. To
observers in government and outside government; it is just a matter of time
before battle for supremacy is fought in the public arena.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Then the bubble goes bust
on March 13 1966 at the Limuru Conference Centre. And as Karega Munene captures
the moment in his Wajibu Series,<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">“<b><i>The ethnic maneuvers by the troika of Kenyan politics and their
lieutenants culminated in the 13 March 1966 KANU national delegates meeting at
the Limuru Conference Centre, ostensibly to hold party elections. As it soon
emerged, the meeting's agenda was to get rid of the then KANU Vice-President
who was also the country's Vice-President, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. The
key architect of the organizational format, who was used in cutting Oginga
Odinga to size at the meeting, was Tom Mboya. By using Mboya in this way,
Kenyatta probably intended to blunt charges of tribalism that could easily have
been levelled against him (as a Gikuyu leader) at the time. To a casual
observer, the political intrigue and battle was simply a Luo affair.”<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">This move by Kenyatta and Mboya against Jaramogi has predictable
consequences. They know that Jaramogi will surely be furious and likely to
resign in a huff. And that is what happens. Jaramogi resigns the same day as
KANU Vice President and Vice President of the country and a few days later
forms the first post independence opposition party- KPU- Kenya Peoples Union.
Remember, this happens before any amendment in the Standing Orders of
Parliament or the Constitution requiring MPs that opt to join a new party to
return to the electorate to seek a fresh mandate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">For this reason, Jaramogi’s KPU causes a common in parliament and panic
in the Kenyatta cabinet. Left unchecked, Jaramogi’s new party has the potential
to bring down Jomo’s government. For this reason, Mboya is detailed to move a
motion in parliament to compel any MP who crosses the floor to the opposition
to resign his seat and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">Subsequently the Speaker of the National Assembly declares seats of
those MPs that had crossed the floor vacant and a by election is set. This is
what culminates in the now famous “Little General Election of 1966”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">The aftermath of the 1966 “Little General Elections” is a disaster for Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. It spells the death knell for his political career without him
knowing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">The behavior of KANU, particularly that of Tom Mboya ensures that KPU
lost massively in Local Government Councils and Parliament. Just a few days
before the elections, Tom Mboya tours the whole country castigating KPU and
Odinga’s pesa nane politics. He goes ahead and ropes in the Provincial
Administration to vet and disqualify as many of KPU candidates as possible such
that most KANU candidates at the Council and Parliament are elected unopposed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">At the end of the day, some of Jaramogi’s most prominent figures in KPU
like Bildad Kaggia and Achieng Oneko lose in their constituencies. Odinga end
up with about six KPU MPs, a number that finally becomes ineffective in
parliament.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">With Jaramogi neutralized, Kenyatta systematically begins to get rid of
Luo appointees in government particularly if their appointments were courtesy
of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. This political witch hunting goes on until January 29
1969 when Argwings Kodhek, the Foreign Minister dies in a mysterious road
accident in Nairobi. Six months later, his fellow cabinet minister, Tom Mboya
is also assassinated along Government Road in Nairobi on July 5 1969.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">The aftermath of Mboya’s assassination is followed by a fracas in Kisumu
involving Jomo Kenyatta where eleven civilians are shot dead, Odinga and all
KPU MPs detained and KPU banned. This further worsens the plight of Luos that
remained in the Kenyatta regime and more purging takes place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;">Is the Uhuru regime likely to read from the same script in dealing with
Raila Odinga four decades later?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="mailto:jerryokungu@gmail.com">jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-25737298378267067722013-07-30T17:56:00.000+03:002013-07-30T17:56:00.630+03:00POLARIZATION OF POLITICS IN KENYA ALONG ETHNIC LINES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1>
<i>By Karega-Mûnene</i></h1>
<table border="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td width="80%"><blockquote>
A significant number of Kenyans still remain puzzled about the fact that the self-appointed "professor of politics", Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, who was the second President of the Republic of Kenya, lost his "professorial acumen" towards the end of last year. Some suggest that it was not possible for him to beat the big brains in the opposition, especially after the brains united to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). Others argue that Moi was never a professor of politics in the first place. Rather, some of us regarded him as one because a number of our leading politicians and academics appeared to have believed in that lie. It was because of this belief that some people assumed they could only rise on the political ladder if one joined Moi and, by extension, the then ruling party, Kenya African National Union (KANU). This line of thinking aptly explains the dissolution of the National Development Party (NDP) at the KANU national delegates meeting at the Kasarani Sports Complex in March 2002.</blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Moi's Nyayo politics</h3>
I take the position that Moi was not the "professor of politics" he wanted us to believe, but a very keen student of the first President of Kenya, the late Jomo Kenyatta. Unfortunately, Moi was selective on what to copy from Kenyatta, namely, (1) self-preservation in politics, (2) insatiable greed for land and wealth, and (3) nepotism and tribalism. In this regard, we cannot accuse Moi of dishonesty when he promised us he would follow Kenyatta's footsteps (nyayo) when, on Kenyatta's death in August 1978, he assumed the presidency. Indeed Moi, the student, excelled in all three points of the lesson but failed miserably whenever he tried to be original. Examples of such failures abound: witness the Nyayo Milk project, Nyayo Wards, Nyayo Pioneer Car, Nyayo Tea Zones, Nyayo Buses, and more recently, the Uhuru Project.<br />
When the Uhuru project failed, some of us could not believe that the "professor of politics" had failed. That is because Moi had succeeded in making a significant number of Kenyans suppose he was invincible. In actual fact, however, it was because we failed to appreciate that Moi only succeeded where he had something to copy from his predecessor, Kenyatta. As such, we failed to realize that Moi could not copy Kenyatta on presidential succession since Kenyatta did not in the real sense manage his own succession. Rather, Moi became President by virtue of Kenyatta's death.<br />
<br />
While the extent of Kenyatta's and Moi's wealth remains unknown to the general public, there is no doubt that the two and their respective families are excessively rich. Since both Kenyatta and Moi are not famous for their acumen in business, one can only assume that their wealth accrued to them on account of their high office. This may explain why political power was so dear to them in their life. While Kenyatta's authority enabled him to hold on to office and to implement his wishes with considerable ease, Moi compensated for his lack of such authority by seeking legal backing and sometimes a semblance of such backing. For example, Kenyatta's authority enabled him to rule Kenya as a one-party state without amending the national constitution. In contrast, Moi found it necessary to amend the constitution to make Kenya a one-party state by law through the insertion of the infamous section 2A. In time, the one-party state became a one-man state as parliament, the cabinet, the judiciary, the civil service, the parastatal sector and public universities acquiesced to Moi's wishes.<br />
<br />
Equally illustrative is the implementation of the infamous 1988 queue voting (mlolongo), which was specifically designed to rid Parliament of those who were regarded as disloyal to Moi. For this to happen, KANU amended its procedure for nominating candidates in that year's general election. This was enunciated in the booklet The Kenya African National Union nomination rules. Moi also unashamedly used state resources to buy loyalty in curious ways. He dished out loads of local currency notes to ordinary Kenyans he found on the roadside, regardless of whether they were minding their own business or waiting to catch a glimpse of him.<br />
<br />
Since appointment to senior positions in the civil service and in the parastatal sector guaranteed high social status and wealth right from the days of independence, Moi, like Kenyatta, was not averse to appointing people from his village or ethnic group to those positions. Given the fact that there were only a handful of Tugen who could be appointed to those positions, Moi reached out to well educated people from the Nandi, the Kipsigis, the Keiyo, the Sabaot, the Pokot and the Marakwet, all of whom are considered to belong to one ethnic group, the Kalenjin. Eventually, Moi cast the net wider to include the Maasai, the Turkana and the Samburu, hence the coining of the acronym KAMATUSA. As a result of this redefinition of ethnic identity, a group of people in the former South Nyanza District, for example, disowned their hitherto widely recognised Luo identity and demanded recognition of their Suba ethnicity through the creation of the Suba District.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The birth of ethnic politics in Kenya</h3>
At this juncture one is tempted to ask how and when did ethnicity become such an important factor in our politics? At/ independence, for example, the current President of the Republic of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, and the late Thomas Joseph Mboya went to Parliament on cosmopolitan Nairobi tickets and Achieng Oneko on a cosmopolitan Nakuru ticket. Interestingly, rather than nurture the cosmopolitan politics of the time, the troika of Kenyan politics at the time: Kenyatta, Mboya and Oginga Odinga, as well as their disciples, quickly retreated to ethnic refuges in their attempt to consolidate their political influence. Consequently, tribal organisations like the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru Association (GEMA), the Luo Union, the Akamba Union gained notoriety as political platforms during the remainder of Kenyatta's reign. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that these developments compelled some of the significant national political leaders to retreat to safe ethnic constituencies: Mwai Kibaki, for example, moved to Nyeri and Achieng Oneko to Nyanza.<br />
The ethnic manoeuvres by the troika of Kenyan politics and their lieutenants culminated in the 13 March 1966 KANU national delegates meeting at the Limuru Conference Centre, ostensibly to hold party elections. As it soon emerged, the meeting's agenda was to get rid of the then KANU Vice-President who was also the country's Vice-President, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. The key architect of the organisational format, who was used in cutting Oginga Odinga to size at the meeting, was Tom Mboya. By using Mboya in this way, Kenyatta probably intended to blunt charges of tribalism that could easily have been levelled against him (as a Gikuyu leader) at the time. To a casual observer, the political intrigue and battle was simply a Luo affair.<br />
<br />
As was to happen at another KANU national delegates meeting in 2002, the delegates at the Limuru Conference meeting amended the KANU constitution, abolishing the position of the single Vice-President. In its place, they created eight positions of party Vice-President, representing the country's eight provinces. The Party line-up at the end of the conference was as follows:<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><tbody>
<tr><th>NAME</th><th>OFFICE</th><th>PROVINCE</th><th>ETHNIC GROUP</th></tr>
<tr><td>Jomo Kenyatta</td><td>President</td><td>National Office</td><td>Gikuyu</td></tr>
<tr><td>Joseph T. Mboya</td><td>Secretary General</td><td>National Office</td><td>Luo</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ronald Ngala</td><td>Vice President</td><td>Coast</td><td>Giriama</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mohamed Jubat</td><td>Vice President</td><td>North Eastern</td><td>Somali</td></tr>
<tr><td>Jeremiah Nyagah</td><td>Vice President</td><td>Eastern</td><td>Embu/Mbere</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mwai Kibaki</td><td>Vice President</td><td>Nairobi</td><td>Gikuyu</td></tr>
<tr><td>James Gichuru</td><td>Vice President</td><td>Central</td><td>Gikuyu</td></tr>
<tr><td>Daniel T. arap Moi</td><td>Vice President</td><td>Rift Valley</td><td>Tugen/Kalenjin</td></tr>
<tr><td>Eric Khasakhala</td><td>Vice Presiden</td><td>Nyanza</td><td>Gusii</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lawrence Sagini</td><td>Vice President</td><td>Nyanza</td><td>Gusii</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Besides representing the provinces, the party Vice-Presidents represented specific ethnic groups. Interestingly, the Gikuyu community got the lion's share of the party positions: Kenyatta, Mwai Kibaki and James Gichuru. The fact that Kenyatta viewed the Gikuyu academic elite and the ex-Mau Mau and their offspring as a threat to his reign probably necessitated this arrangement. This postulation is supported by the fact that, by the time of Kenyatta's death, the majority of political detainees in the country came from the Gikuyu community.<br />
<br />
Thus, in one stroke, Kenyatta's 1966 manoeuvres polarised this country's politics along ethnic lines. The operating logic here appears to have been as follows: if a member of the Gikuyu ethnic group opposed Mwai Kibaki, James Gichuru, or Jeremiah Nyagah, let alone Kenyatta, he/she could be considered an enemy of the Gikuyu (and by extension the Embu and Meru communities) because he/she was blocking one of their own from succeeding Kenyatta. Similarly, if a member of the Luo ethnic group opposed Thomas Mboya he/she became an enemy of the Luo because he/she was interfering with the accession of Mboya, a Luo, to the presidency.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Intensification of ethnic politics</h3>
Further polarisation of our politics occurred in 1969 with the assassination of Tom Mboya and the proscription of the Kenya Peoples Union and detention of its leadership. These events introduced the politics of ethnic intrigue and hatred into Kenya. The assassination of J. M. Kariuki in March 1975 provided a much-desired temporary relief (since the Kenyatta leadership-and by extension the GEMA communities-had "eaten" one of their own. Sad to say for this country, however, and as recent complaints by some politicians and intellectuals indicate, we are still grappling with the politics of ethnic intrigue and hatred.<br />
<br />
The changes in the leadership of KANU resulting from the Limuru Conference delegates meeting had the desired impact for, in April 1966 Oginga Odinga resigned from the Vice-Presidency of KANU and the Republic. Thereupon Kenyatta appointed the late Joseph Murumbi Vice President. But Murumbi soon resigned to be replaced by Daniel arap Moi, who remained Vice-President until Kenyatta's death in August 1978. Curiously, none of the eight KANU Vice-Presidents was appointed Vice-President of the Republic on Odinga's resignation. While time was on Kenyatta's side in 1966 thus enabling him to name the "outsider" Murumbi Vice-President, in 2002 Moi was faced with a crucial general election, which may explain his procrastination in appointing a Vice-President when George Saitoti was sacked.<br />
<br />
When he chaired the KANU national delegates meeting at the Kasarani Sports Complex on the18th of March 2002, Moi simply turned back a few pages in our history book. As was the case in the 1966 KANU delegates meeting, the agenda was to block the then Vice-President, George Saitoti, from being a significant player in the succession game. True to form, the meeting amended the party constitution to allow for the absorption of the National Development Party (NDP), hence the creation of the "New KANU" and the four positions of party Vice-Chairmen. The Party line-up at the end of the meeting was as follows:<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><tbody>
<tr><th>NAME</th><th>OFFICE</th><th>PROVINCE</th><th>ETHNIC GROUP</th></tr>
<tr><td>ETHNIC GROUP</td><td>Chairman</td><td>National Office</td><td>Tugen/Kalenjin</td></tr>
<tr><td>Raila Odinga</td><td>Secretary General</td><td>National Office</td><td>Luo</td></tr>
<tr><td>Uhuru Kenyatta</td><td>Vice-Chairman</td><td>Central</td><td>Gikuyu</td></tr>
<tr><td>Musalia Mudavadi</td><td>Vice-Chairman</td><td>Western</td><td>Luyia</td></tr>
<tr><td>Kalonzo Musyoka</td><td>Vice-Chairman</td><td>Eastern</td><td>Kamba</td></tr>
<tr><td>Katana Ngala</td><td>Vice-Chairman</td><td>Coast</td><td>Giriama</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
On the surface, the line-up may appear less tribalistic than the Kenyatta 1966 line-up. However, given the fact that Moi had little respect for protocol and was therefore more at ease dealing with lesser officials than with senior ones, the Kalenjin community, and by extension the KAMATUSA group got the lion's share of the positions that mattered. Besides Moi's executive party Chairmanship, there was Nicholas Biwott (Organising Secretary), Julius Sunkuli (Deputy Secretary-General), William Ruto (Director of Elections) and his son Gideon Moi who was not a party official. The events leading to the last year's general election and after clearly demonstrate that power was vested in the lesser officials (and non-officials) rather than in the Vice-Chairmen or the Secretary-General.<br />
<br />
That Moi successfully set the political agenda since the advent of multi-party politics in the country in 1992 is not in doubt. As such, it was likely that the average Kenyan would have agreed with Moi's assertion that KANU was the only national party, while the rest were ethnic outfits. As was the case with Kenyatta, it was therefore logical for Moi to assume that anyone who opposed the "New KANU" line-up could be seen as an enemy of the "tribe", hence the logic governing the creation of the four positions of party Vice-Chairman. Those elected to these positions came from the ethnic groups that provided significant opposition to KANU: the Luyia (who were led by Kijana Wamalwa), the Gikuyu (who were led by Mwai Kibaki) and the Akamba (who were led by Charity Ngilu). The only exception were the coastal communities who, it was hoped, could help tip the scale in KANU's favour if the race for the State House came too close to call, hence the inclusion of the colourless Katana Ngala.<br />
<br />
By making Raila Odinga Secretary-General of the "New KANU", Moi hoped to bring intra-Luo opposition politics to an end. It was, therefore, expected that any Luo (read James Orengo and Shem Ochuodho) who opposed KANU and therefore Raila Odinga, would be regarded by the Luo as an enemy of the "tribe" because he/she was obstructing the ascendancy of one of their own to the presidency. In one stroke, Moi reduced Raila Odinga from being the representative of the cosmopolitan Lang'ata Constituency to the position of the undisputed leader of the Luo ethnic group. It was also hoped that Musalia Mudavadi would become the undisputed leader of the Luyia (with the exception of the recalcitrant Bukusu) and Kalonzo Musyoka and Uhuru Kenyatta undisputed leaders of the Kamba and the Gikuyu (and the Embu and Meru ethnic groups), respectively.<br />
<br />
According to the Moi logic, any Luyia who opposed Musalia Mudavadi (read Kijana Wamalwa) would be seen as an enemy of the Luyia. Similarly, any politician from the Coast who opposed Katana Ngala, became an enemy of the Coastal peoples. Anybody from the Gikuyu ethnic group who opposed Uhuru Kenyatta (read Mwai Kibaki and Kenneth Matiba) was an outright enemy of the Gikuyu (and the Embu and Meru communities). And any Kamba politician opposed to Kalonzo Musyoka (read Charity Ngilu) was an enemy of the Kamba community. If one belonged to the KAMATUSA group and was opposed to Moi, Nicholas Biwott, Julius Sunkuli, or William Ruto (read Kipruto Kirwa, Kipkalya Kones and Tabitha Seei) he/she automatically became a sell-out for helping another community to steal the presidency from his/her own. These manoeuvres only served to polarise this country's politics further along ethnic lines. Is it surprising at all that KANU is on its way to becoming an ethnic party?<br />
<br />
It is not lost to a keen observer that, with the exception of Katana Ngala, whose ambition for high office was always doubtful, the new KANU officials wasted no time in trying to consolidate their positions. Kalonzo Musyoka, for example, quickly threw a party in his Mwingi constituency to celebrate his victory in the new KANU "elections". In so doing, Kalonzo intended to consolidate his position as leader of the Kamba ethnic group, with the blessings, of course, of Mulu Mutisya (the hitherto undisputed Kamba king-maker). Being somewhat more sophisticated than Mulu Mutisya, Kalonzo reportedly transported representatives of KANU from every district in Eastern Province to the victory party. Of course, attainment of provincial leadership status would come in handy for Kalonzo in sharing the spoils if KANU triumphed in the general elections.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Understanding Moi's tribal card game</h3>
It is quite amazing that Moi, a man with less than ten years of formal education outperformed Kenyatta, his teacher, in the game of politics, striding the Kenyan political landscape like a colossus for close to a quarter of a century. Besides his legendary patience and ability to exploit state resources to his advantage, his persistent presentation of himself as an underdog enabled him to reign supreme. That Moi appears to have started his political career as the "reluctant politician" is significant. (Recall in this connection Benjamin Kipkorir's description of himself as a "reluctant scholar" and more recently Sally Kosgei's description of herself as a "reluctant civil servant"). This stance enabled him to watch from the sidelines before striking back, as his enemies exhausted their missiles. It also enabled him to escaped public censure for practising tribalism in virtually every aspect of life.<br />
<br />
Throughout his reign, Moi enjoyed playing politics to the public gallery, where he delighted in humiliating people who were better educated than him. Such humiliation did not only raise questions about his culprit's academic credentials and abilities in the public mind, but also left the culprit at Moi's mercy. This streak is also evident in the manner he chose and treated his Vice-Presidents, all of whom were university graduates and from large ethnic groups.<br />
<br />
he humiliation that each one of them suffered at Moi's hands appears to have been a desperate attempt by Moi to demonstrate to them and to the general public that university graduates and, indeed, university lecturers and professors were Moi's second best. Undoubtedly, this was the mind-set of a man with a serious inferiority complex, trying to compensate for his rather low education standards. This observation is given credence by the fact that throughout his reign Moi never humiliated politicians with his level of education or less like the late Kariuki Chotara, Kabiru Kimemia, Philemon Chelagat, Stephen Michoma, Mulu Mutisya, Shariff Nassir and Ezekiel Bargetuny, to mention a few.<br />
<br />
If anything, by their poor education, or lack of it, as well by their lack of sophistication, such politicians made Moi look good.<br />
<br />
Viewed against this background, one is tempted to forgive Moi for his naked promotion of parochial ethnic interests at the expense of national interests. Unlike his teacher Kenyatta, the student failed to appreciate the relationship between the nation's economic prosperity and self-preservation in politics, hence the country's economic stagnation throughout his reign. The student appears to have been so keen to promote himself to professor that he forgot he had to matriculate and graduate before he could be allowed to tutor undergraduates, let alone become professor. For a man who always reminded the country that he did not have advisors, it is highly likely that his ego got the better of him, thus making him ignore good advice whenever it was proffered.<br />
<br />
Under both Kenyatta and Moi a small group of State House supporters had a priori knowledge of the planned sequence of events during the 15 March 1966 and 18 March 2002 KANU national delegates meetings at the Limuru Conference Centre and at the Kasarani Sports Complex, respectively. According to one-time Moi confidant, G.G. Kariuki, the design of the 2002 "elections" followed the system that was employed in the October 1978 KANU "elections". In those "elections" the party national delegates conference was presented with a "slate of party officials…listing the names of the candidates for all party offices on a provincial [and ethnic] basis." This approach had the desired effect of "surpris[ing] the internal party opposition, which was still deliberating its strategy, and thus left the impression that the names on …[the] list (which …[was] titled "Kenya imeamua" or "Kenya has decided") had the support of the Kenyan people.<br />
<br />
Given the similarities between the 1966 and 2002 KANU national delegates meetings, one is tempted to pose a few questions. To begin with, was it by coincidence or by design that the position of Secretary-General in both cases was filled by a Luo, namely, Tom Mboya in 1966 and Raila Odinga in 2002? Was Moi making a statement to Raila Odinga that, like Tom Mboya, he had reached the pinnacle of his political career in KANU when he became Secretary-General? Secondly, was it by coincidence or by design that both elections, ushering in a "new KANU," were held a mere three days apart in March? Was Moi hoping the Kenyatta magic would rub off on his manoeuvres?<br />
<h3>
Tribal politics-a way out?</h3>
That the recently elected NARC government has been accused of nepotism and tribalism raises the question whether this country will ever have a government that will escape such accusations. Is this really possible granted that we define our individual identities first by ethnic affiliation? Is ethnicity necessarily bad? Since there is strength in diversity, why cannot we, as Kenyans, harness that strength instead of using it divisively?<br />
Unfortunately for Kenya, the majority of our leaders, who include politicians, religious leaders, in addition to the economic and academic elite, are not known for being social reformers. Instead, virtually all of them seek high office as a means to accessing and appropriating public resources for selfish reasons. Insofar as this state of affairs persists, ethnic factors will remain a major bane to this country. Perhaps there is hope that the enactment of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Bill and the Public Officers Ethics Bill, which will promote merit and punish theft of public resources, will help us to harness the strength in our diversity.<br />
<br />
<center>
<hr size="1" width="600" />
<center>
<img border="0" height="26" src="http://web.peacelink.it/images/wajibu1.gif" style="background-color: white;" width="105" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><b style="background-color: white;">A JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONCERN</b><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Published Quarterly by DR. GERALD J. WANJOHI</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Likoni Lane - P .O. Box 32440 - Nairobi - Kenya </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Telephone: 254.2.712632/311674/312822</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><hr size="1" style="background-color: white;" width="600" />
</center>
</center>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-73264706607915692122013-07-27T12:55:00.002+03:002013-07-27T12:55:44.692+03:00THE DEATH OF ARGWINGS KODHEK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div id="watch-uploader-info" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 17px; padding: 0px;">
<b>From YUTUBE</b></div>
<div id="watch-description-text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div id="eow-description" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; padding: 0px;">
Argwings CMG Kodhek was born in 1923 in Nyawara, Gem, Siaya in central Nyanza. He was educated at Yala {now popularly called st Mary's], Maseno and Makerere University College then, in Uganda. In 1947 he got a further scholarship to the University of South Wales, graduating as a lawyer and social scientist in 1949. From there he went st Andrews in Scotland. He returned to colonial Kenya at around 1951 and went into legal practice as the first black, and worse, married to a white, Tate Mavis. That was not done in colonial apartheid societies.<br />Kodhek took to the defence of Mau Mau freedom fighters and other patriots who ran foul of colonial law. So he had no shortage of clients, just time and money. With a huge intellect, confrontational personality, solid education, perfect mastery of the colonial language, murderous humor and wit, Kodhek ran rings around colonial courts. One day, having out argued a chief-justice who still thought blacks could not practice english law, in exasperation he jabbed:<br />Woe and wilt upon Brittania, that she chooses to export the most stupid and vile of her sons to civilise Africa! Oh mistaken queen, come and evacuate these simpletons who understand nothing of you, neither your jurisprudence nor your languange. Their perfect idiocy insults your royal foolishness!<br /><br />In 1956 he launched the NAIROBI DISTRICT AFRICAN CONGRESS. 1961-63 he was in the Legislative council [Legico], and after independence he became the KANU representative for Gem constituency.<br />He died JANUARY 29,1969 in puported road accident along the road which now bears his name[ Argwings Kodhek ] in Nairobi.<br />Ramogi then composed one of the saddest songs in contemporary Luo conciousness. I offer two versions, the recent one done by Tom Kodiyo, and the original one of 1969.</div>
</div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-53017677950041627872013-07-27T12:19:00.001+03:002013-07-27T12:53:54.449+03:00LESSONS FROM THE MAKUENI "LITTLE GENERAL" ELECTIONS:REVISED<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">By P.Anyang' Nyong'o</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">It goes without saying that the Makueni by-election was not just an ordinary by election in Kenya. For all intents and purposes it was a "little general" election in which the two major political coalitions have taken keen interest and the whole nation has been mobilized to pay attention to it. For almost two months the media was full of news about Kethi Kilonzo and the election.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">For Jubilee the fact that Makueni was right in the middle of a CORD strong hold was no reason to let the by-election go to the rivals just like that. One only needs to remember that a European sitting somewhere at the Hague or an American in Washington has very little knowledge of Kenya's geography. The by-election, being the first after the controversial presidential election, would obviously be of great interest to the world out there with regard to which party wins. A Jubilee loss would be viewed as a much bigger event out there and a much more useful trophy to the opposition. Jubilee was determined to ensure that the trophy eludes their rivals.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">This election reminds one very much of the Gem by-election held in late 1966, the same year the Kenya People's Union emerged as a post independence opposition to KANU. The election was fought between the KANU candidate Omolo Rading and the KPU candidate Wasonga Sijeyo. Except for the absence of the KANU Secretary General Tom Mboya from the campaigns, KANU released all its big guns to face the KPU brigade led by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga on the ground in a predominantly KPU stronghold. But KANU was determined to win the seat, if only to demonstrate to the world that the KPU was no challenge to it and it was very much in charge in the whole country. In the end the KPU floored KANU without much ado, just as Mutula Kilonzo Jr. just sent the Jubilee team packing after only four days of being in the campaign trail.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">While the Jubilee big guns did not troop to campaign in Makweni in large numbers, they spent most of their ammunition in Nairobi within the law courts and the IEBC. The tremendous efforts, logistics, manoeuvres and tricks used by Jubilee to find anything in the law to stop Kethi Kilonzo from contesting the Makueni seat were clear signs that Jubilee never intended to take its case to the people of Makueni: judges, lawyers and the IEBC mandarins were its carefully orchestrated constituency to decide for the Makueni people who their candidate was. The joke making the rounds in Makueni during the campaigns was that after the Supreme Court saga, Jubilee had decided that it was much cheaper to win elections using the courts than to bribe thousands of voters in the countryside.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">But why did the by-election in Makueni in the end become a "little general" election in Kenya?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">To begin with the man who passed on and who was to be replaced, Mutula Kilonzo, somehow grew larger than life in his death. As Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Mutula had taken a very clear and firm legal stand on the ICC. As far as he was concerned there was absolutely no way by which Kenya could avoid its responsibilities to the ICC having been signatory to the Rome Statutes. Secondly, there was no way by which justice towards the victims of the Post Election Violence could be downplayed by not going ahead with the cases at the Hague, or tampering with evidence in any way whatsoever. This clear and unequivocal stand that risked making him unpopular with the Kibaki government won him the admiration of many Kenyans who thought as he did but rarely came out so succinctly on this issue as he did.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">A continued focus on Mutula Kilonzo by getting his child take over his seat in the Senate was not the kind of thing that the powers that be wanted to put up with for the next four years. Moreover, when that offspring happened to be Kethi Kilonzo of the AFRICOG case in the Supreme Court petition that challenged the election of Uhuru as Kenya's fourth president, then one can see why Jubilee went out of the way to mess up Kethi's candidature.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Kethi's performance in the Supreme Court elevated her to national and international fame. Kethi in the Senate and staying in the lime light was something that could have metamorphosed into many things that the Jubilee mandarins and their intelligence squads did not want to wait and see. Nipping the whole thing in the bud without going to the ridiculous extent of rigging an election was a much better approach. Hence even after the IEBC had properly nominated Kethi to run it had to look inside its own house and manufacture some mistakes as reasons to withdraw the nomination from Kethi. Whatever the case, Kethi has now been fully initiated into national politics in a by- election which has been truly a "little general" election.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">From now on Kethi has no other alternative but to look up, keep her profile high and prepare for 2017. She need not go back to Makueni. There are several options worth looking at which need not preoccupy her today lest she runs too much ahead of herself. But the options are there; those who have eyes to see let them see.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Young, gifted and female Kethi has the vibrant youth constituency to attend to. Disarmingly calm and articulate, she brings the best out of this generation as someone who has respect for her seniors while not giving them room for unnecessary patronage. Just by being herself she exudes some sense of authority when she speaks and reasons. She is obviously well grounded in her profession and a good number of people feared that politics may rob her of the opportunity to develop fully in her profession, thereby making even much more contribution than she would in politics.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">But there is really no reason why she cannot do both. The present US Vice President, Joe Biden, shocked Americans when he became one of the youngest senators in 1972: he was in his twenties. He eventually carved a legacy for himself as one of the most respected legislators in the US Congress.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">The Kenyan senate is slowly emerging as a house where painstaking work on law making and policy debates are key to the success of legislators. It is small enough to encourage collegial discourse and collaboration and yet big enough to influence the trajectory of Kenyan politics. Somebody like Kethi with both an intellectual and professional persuasion could, after a long haul in that house, make a difference which can only be imagined for now given the potential she demonstrated in her Supreme Court performance.</span></span></div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8058130896123990143.post-12545801600903691802013-07-26T17:50:00.004+03:002013-07-26T17:50:43.832+03:00ARAB SPRING CANNOT HAPPEN IN KENYA NOW OR IN THE NEAR FUTURE <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">By Jerry Okungu</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nairobi, Kenya<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">July 24, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">One Eliud Owalo, a
relatively unknown Kenyan is being given his moment of fame by the police and
in return being harassed by the same police that he is a dangerous man capable
of overthrowing the Uhuru government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> I must confess I never heard of or met a man
called Eliud Owalo until Raila Odinga plucked him from obscurity and made him
the Prime Minister’s campaign manager upon the departure of James Ongwae and
Barrack Muluka.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">After running the Raila campaign
to a dead end, one would have expected that Owalo would return to wherever he had
come from. Instead, he has reemerged under very unflattering circumstances, a scenario
that is giving him sleepless nights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It is true Eliud Owalo is
a Kenyan who has the right to agitate for reforms just like every patriotic
Kenyan. In fact being a member of ODM or CORD, he stands a better chance of
being the next generation of youthful leaders to take over the leadership of
his political party if he has the mettle to do it and if party members feel he
has the wherewithal to assume such a role.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">However, what I do not or
cannot buy is the idea that Owalo has the capacity to affect an Arab Spring in
Kenya. I say this because to have a substantial following, you must have a
clean record of patriotism, guts and ability to persuade your followers that
you have a set of beliefs and values that
you are ready to die for if need be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Secondly, the Arab Spring
needs an Arab culture and fanatism that is prevalent in Middle Eastern cultures.
To have an Arab Spring you need a critical mass of the population that is ready
to sacrifice everything to achieve their objective. You need a critical mass
that is equally suicidal with the madness of facing the police and if need be
the military with bare hands for days on end without bothering about their
personal safety. This culture is definitely missing in our society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In Kenya, we have more
distant spectators when we have a public demonstration than the actual number
of participants. We saw it when the crowd deserted mothers of political
prisoners in the 1990s at Uhuru Park as police clobbered naked mothers to
smithereens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Even the most celebrated
Kamkunji rally now known as Saba Saba Day, there were more people running away
at the slightest unleashing of tear gas than the number of demonstrators that
confronted the police. In the end, the crowd took off as Rev. Timothy fell
victim to the merciless GSU while James Orengo and others were nabbed by the
police.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A clear example that Kenya
does not enjoy an Arab Spring culture was evident in a recent public
demonstration against parliamentarians when the Civil Society invaded the
precincts of parliament using pigs as a show of disgust with MPs’ greed. And
for the first time, there was a measure of police tolerance of demonstrators
unlike in the past when the strategy was to prevent any form of demonstrations
by any means necessary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If the Pigs’ event in
parliament did not excite the Kenya public enough to join it in their thousands and occupy
parliament for days until their demands were met, nothing in our life time
can excite Kenyans to take to the
streets in larger numbers as we have seen Egyptians, Libyans, Tunisians and
Syrians do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The reason the Arab
Springs have succeeded is because of numbers. Public demonstrations in Tunis,
Cairo, Damascus and Libya’s Tripoli were so big that they outnumbered national
security agencies many times over. Now when there is a crowd in the cities numbering
their millions and is composed of fanatics that are ready to die, the sheer
numbers make the political class and their security apparatus think twice
before they move against the crowds with guns and buttons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The best moment when the
Arab Spring would have taken place in Kenya was in January 2008 when parts of
the country erupted in what one would have called a near uprising. At that time
large regions of the country felt short changed following the 2007 rigged
elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The uprisings were more pronounced
in Rift Valley, Nyanza, Western and Coast regions. This uprising did not
achieve its objective because it lacked ideological leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The masses were left to
their own devices to manage the uprising. And before long, the fighter youths
turned into murderous gangs, raping and looting causing untold suffering to
ordinary Kenyans. This indiscipline made it possible for the police to go on
the rampage and shoot to kill innocent Kenyans some of whom were fished out of
their homes and shot dead as long as they were in the opposition strong holds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">At the end of the day the
ethnic dimension that the conflict took almost gave Kenyans the first real
civil war that would have pitted the Kikuyus against the Luos and Kalenjins
along with other tribes aligning themselves with their traditional allies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Moreover, the growth of
the middle class and pursuit of wealth at any cost, coupled with extreme
selfishness makes it difficult for the masses to join demonstrations in large
numbers. They will whine and moan about prices of basic commodities but they
will not lay their lives on the line for prices to come down. They would rather
pay high taxes than risk losing their meager savings to looters in mass
demonstrations/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F3F3F3; margin-bottom: 10.4pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.4pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.3pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This man </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">who was head of Raila's presidential
campaign secretariat has been linked by the CID to the March 4 Movement, an
organization the police claim is creating networks to destabilize the government
and cause a revolution, an organization whose ownership has been claimed by human
rights activist, Okiya Omtata. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F3F3F3; margin-bottom: 10.4pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.4pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.3pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">If he is
not in any way affiliated to M4M, why is the police hell bent on sticking the
label on him? Is Owalo the most attractive individual to make the authorities
believe their security agencies are working?
Is it because Owalo is linked to Raila, the real target in this
thoughtless saga? If I were in charge of Security agencies, I would revisit
this whole story and throw it out as garbage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F3F3F3; margin-bottom: 10.4pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.4pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.3pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="mailto:Jerryokungu@gmail.com">Jerryokungu@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F3F3F3; margin-bottom: 10.4pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 10.4pt; mso-line-height-alt: 8.3pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
</div>
Africa News Onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758421207567571009noreply@blogger.com0