Vindictive Losers, Loose-Lipped Victors, Seers...

[Onyango Oloo]

A Digital Examination by Onyango Oloo

PART ONE:



Can you say R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!!?

I mean, for crying out loud, what is the dealio with the spanking new ice-skating rink in the middle of sweltering Nairobi?

If they had given some half-assed reason about promoting ice sports in Kenya, I would have been only semi-miffed, mildly offended, superficially hurt, slightly upset.

But to have the gall, the gumption, the cheek, the nerve to advance the completely zonked out and absolutely wacky sababu of "promoting tourism" is just plain stupid:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4543576.stm

Having lived in what many regard to be among the world's leading ice-skating nations- Canada- for almost two decades, I KNOW that tourists from Montreal, Thunder Bay, Sault St. Marie, Calgary and Yellow Knife do not flee their frigid wintry climes to come survey tropical ice rinks hugging the steaming Equator.

How do you promote tourism by reminding tourists of the banal commonplace sites they hastily escaped from, risking a hijacking and even worse?

Maybe I am being way too harsh.

We Kenyans are so used to kuramba ramba matako ya wazungu that we mark it as a supreme honour if we can make them "feel at home" in our home.

Actually, the above should be considered as so much by the way fluff because I want to vent my hasira soaked spleen on something else entirely.

CONTINUED....

[Onyango Oloo]

PART TWO:


And that something else is this:

eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=33877

and this:

eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=33906

Not quite sated by the briefly adjourned bacchanalia at the Ikulu starring our desperate and crisis prone Mfalme Kibaki with a supporting cast of guilt-free political courtesans like Musikari Kombo, the NAK cabal has apparently now decided to avenge their stinging Banana defeat further by vindictively and retroactively hounding alleged Orange loyalists from the civil service and other sections of the Government bureaucracy.

Rewarding trusted cronies and their mosaic of greedy relatives, hangers-on, mistresses, associates and shady contacts is apparently not enough in this ongoing soap opera of Kenyan pork-barrel politics.

NO:

The Yes vindictive and score-keeping broom must now immediately sweep out any closeted Biro nibblers and file shuffling Orange peelers lurking in the nooks and crannies of government offices.

Yet some of these Banana fed blood- hounds are the very ones who used to whine, less than a decade ago that Nyayo was “finishing their tribe”.

On a related note, I am sure I am not the only one who has noticed that this same cynical clique which barely a month ago was in an orgy of give-aways, hand outs, salary increases, you name it is back in its original colours of laying off medical staff, threatening forest dwellers with eviction and generally swaggering and posturing around.

A closer look at the firing of the NSSF Managing Trustee Naftali Mogere reveals nuances that perhaps invite other explanations beyond the Orange/Banana stand-offs.

In a front page story in today’s (Wednesday, December 21, 2005) Daily Nation, Mugo Njeru quotes COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli claiming that “ an influential cowboy contractor had prevailed upon powerful figures in the Government to fire Mr Mogere for frustrating his efforts to (sanction a multi-billion shilling contract). ‘Mr Mogere was sacked through the influence of a cowboy contractor who had been overpaid by NSSF by Sh 3.6 billion for a contract he never completed. The same contractor had sold to the fund the plot on which the construction is to take place for an exaggerated price of Sh.900 million. Bids for the new contract were to be opened (yesterday) against the wishes of the contractor and the powerful personalities who wanted the process suspended.”

An investigative Kenya Times piece by Doseline Kiguru, Kariuki Ndung’u and Noah Kipkogei informs its readers that:

Sources close to NSSF told the Kenya Times that company (name withheld) sold a plot to NSSF at Sh. 900 million. The plot was later valued at Sh. 500 million. The same company was however awarded a tender to construct 5,500 houses at Sh. 13.5 billion. The company only built 1,100 houses and was paid Sh. 12.5 billion, an overpayment of sh.3 billion. The NSSF board asked the company to complete the houses and company in turn demanded Sh 6 billion, which the board rejected. Tenders were advertised after completion of the houses…According to the sources, four cabinet ministers have been lobbying for the company. Last week a cabinet minister accompanied by a senior official from the said company called on Mogere and tried to prevail over him to postpone opening of the tenders, but he declined. Before leaving Mogere’s office, the two told him to his face that he would not be in the office by Tuesday of he did not comply.

In a rare show of unity, the country’s top trade union boss was supported in his condemnation of the sacking of Mr Mogere by none other than Gerishon Konditi, the executive director of the Federation of Kenya Employers and Aram Mbui, Chairperson of the same FKE. COTU and FKE are two of the biggest contributors to the NSSF. At the same time a report in today’s People Daily reveals that senior Kisii politicians like Prof. Sam Ongeri see Mogere’s sacking as just the latest in a series of witch-hunts targeting civil servants from that community following the pink slips given to Zachary Ogongo and James Ongwae. Prof. Ongeri, one of the leading Orange campaigners in Kisii land at the same time denied that Mogere was ever in the NO camp.

What is completely strange is to hear Newton Kulundu announce that Mr Mogere was fired in the “public interest” barely a month after being singled out by none other than President Kibaki to be among those 300- plus Kenyans who had performed outstanding public service.

If I were Mr Naftali Mogere, I would be beaming from ear to ear. These days the best thing that can happen to someone in government is to be fired by the same government. More than that, the fact that the Kenya High Court yesterday halted to export of the 175 wanyama wa mwituni to Thailand is another indicator that attempts by President Kibaki to play Father Xmas Big Man is out of step with the deepening democratic culture in this country which is seeing ordinary Kenyans defying arbitrary rule by fiat.

What is unfathomable is why the Kenyan government would unleash another war against public servants at a time when its standing among the Kenyan people was at an all time low.

Indeed all four dailies that I looked at this morning have variations of the same headline:

“Kibaki popularity has dropped” with the main beneficiaries being Kalonzo Musyoka and Uhuru Kenyatta- both front-liners of the ODM.

CONTINUED....

[Onyango Oloo]

PART THREE:

While it is very tempting to personalize the issue and over-psychologize the incumbent Kenyan head of state and his bevy of gravy train passengers, I think that it would be far more useful to look at contemporary Kenyan political developments in the context of the degeneration and splintering of the neo-colonial state in the early twenty first century.

A number of scholars- African, Caribbean, European and North American- have long regarded the so called “serikali” on our mother continent as an arena where there is an ongoing interaction between patrons and clients.

In light of his chief nyapara status, President Kibaki is the uber patron and his ministers, assistant ministers, permanent secretaries and other high ranking government officials supervisors, foremen and lukurus of this patron system- while being simultaneously clients of the same chief patron.

Mwai Kibaki himself, in the backdrop of an increasingly globalized political universe dominated by the forces of international finance capital remains captive to the geo-political diktats of the G-9 countries with the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, China and the EU calling the major shots.

In this context, he is a very minor player on this international drama of looting, recolonization, marginalization and domination of Southern peoples by Western imperialist forces. In other words, he can only extend his largesse to the furthest tip of the leash that is attached to the neo-colonial dog collar that he is compelled to don on a daily basis.

His ukabila infected key ministers and aides can raid the state coffers- but only to the extent that they do not disrupt the smooth machinations of Uncle Sam and her key allies when it comes to their interests in the East, Central, and Horn of Africa region. Kenya is still considered an indispensable kizingiti that helps to anchor a bourgeois Pax East Africana.

Much has been made of the tiffs and fisticuffs between individual Kenyan politicians- like Murungaru, Tuju, Mwakwere and lately Koigi and Muiteand some rather prominent Western envoys based in Nairobi- with our would be Don Quixote slayers of the Northern dragons chest-thumping away in the full glare of the local and international media; a more realistic picture is officials of the same regime desperate cup and cap in hand meekly begging for imperialist crumbs to come and feed the hungry; the same arrogant mawaziri doing catapults and somersaults in a mad rush to adhere and comply with the IMF and World Bank conditionalities.

When I read of Muite’s frenetic threats and outlandish allegations against the Western envoys I am tempted greatly to scoff; when I hear of Koigi’s fulminations against the outgoing Germany ambassador Herr Braun, I am very much tempted to guffaw in floor-rolling mirth. Somehow at the last minute, I resist the urge and instead soldier on to the next paragraph.

The truth of the matter is that Muite and Koigi remind me of those suburban teenagers who threaten their parents with a declaration of independence- my moving from their upstairs maisonette bedrooms to the basement or the servant quarters, or to take an extreme, with an older married sibling.

I mean, it is OK for a watch dog to bark at its own master- forgetting that it is the same owner who is later on obliged to feed the mangy critter.

Take the headline on the back page of yesterday’s (Tuesday, December 20, 2005 p.24) People Daily for instance: “Expel envoys, urges Muite”.

Is the Kabete MP serious?

On what basis?

Muite should reflect on the subsequent self-implosion of the former NAK strongman Murungaru, a hurtling political descent into ignominy that started with the Kieni MP’s travel ban to the UK and concluding with his ignominious exit from the Mt Kenya dominated 2005 Kibaki cabinet.

CONTINUED....

[Onyango Oloo]

PART FOUR:

The current programmed pogrom against Orange Democratic Movement leaders, their followers, friends and immediate family members is a mere chapter in the mainstream contestations for the ultimate control of the Kenyan neo-colonial state.

One chapter was completed when the so called KADU/Rift Valley Mafia ousted the Kiambu Mafia in the wake of the demise of Kenya’s original red eyed despot.

Then in the year 2002 the rung’u wielding Baba Gideon had to give way to Mwai Kibaki’s wheelchair which was blazing a trail for the ascendancy of the NAK parvenu schemers at the rotten core of which resided the notorious Mount Kenya Mafia fronted by the so called 6 Ms- Muite, Mwiraria, Murungi, Murungaru, Muthaura, Michuki ably assisted by the 7 Ks- Kombo,Karua, Kituyi, Kirwa, Karume, Koigi, Kibwana spearheading a rag tag army of neocolonial comprador and petit-bourgeois vigeugeu and vibarakala of the ilk of Tuju, the late Maitha, Nyachae, Maalim, Boniface Mganga, Shakombo, Mungatana and other forgettable bit players with walk on parts.

Since the year 2003 the NAK faction has elbowed the LDP out of the way as it bulldozed its way to the thickets of state power at the expense of its erstwhile anti-KANU coalition partners poaching veteran KANU linked opportunists such as Njenga Karume and Simeon from the opposition back-benches.

It would appear as if Mwai Kibaki and his acolytes prefer crowing themselves hoarse whenever they capture another beach-head in the state arena.

That is why this NAK faction has been obsessed and pre-occupied with intra-NARC wars of position revolving around cabinet positions, diplomatic postings and parastatal and government appointments.

At the superficial level having Michuki in internal security, Tuju in foreign affairs, Muthaura controlling the civil service, Kiraitu in the strategic Energy docket may count as so many feathers in the caps of these egotistical power maniacs who have no qualms about launching all their moves driven by parochial and nepotistic considerations: Michuki taps his son-in-law Mutahi Kagwe to be Information minister; Nyachae lobbies for his blood relatives to garner plum posts; Kombo brazenly brays for his fellow Bukusus and Abaluhyia tribespeople to be appointed to civil service positions that are supposed to be secured on merit and accumulated work experience entirely; Ngilu goes for a second helping at feeding at the Ikulu trough, dragging by his hypocritical snout the long serving NGO gate-keeper and former reformer Kivutha Kibwana; the Tujus, the Dzoros, the Kutis , the Kirwas and other peripheral NAK reserve bench occupants try to bend an ear here and there pleading for so and so not to be left out of the feeding frenzy- although Tuju not managing to retrieve his pal and former PS James Rege from the NAK dustbin….

Disgusting.

Definitely vomit inducing.

CONTINUED...

[Onyango Oloo]

PART FIVE:

No doubt Kibaki’s antagonists (not necessarily sworn adversaries it must be underscored) in the cacophonous and querulous Machungwa Hema would hardly hesitate to return then favour were they in a position to do so. Indeed many of the ODM’s insiders are suave veterans of Kenya’s notorious pork barrel politics- with decades of experience of how to insert a cousin here and a mistress there- I am talking of sinecures and postings my smutty minded readers…

At the moment however, the Orange movement is in the position to occupy the moral high ground if it so opts.

The way for the Orange team to secure that moral beach-head is not to descend to the insanity of the Kombos okotaring the makombo or the Ngilus guilessly fighting for the crumbs from the MKM high table.

In other words, by staying focused on what won them the referendum-that is articulating the wananchi’s aspirations revolving around a new constitutional dispensation, democratic reforms and devolution and dissolution of highly centralized executive powers, the Orange Democratic Movement should have no problems at all in exposing, in sharp relief the Dwanyruok kod Milruok of the NAK power maniacs. Dwanyruok is a Dholuo word which loosely means making a donkey of oneself; Milruok has to do with being giddily frivolous- those are not terms of endearment that a statesman or a stateswoman will willingly embrace.

At the end of the night (yes I am varying the cliché by exchanging “night” for “day”) it does not matter if Kibaki fires all those he deems disloyal on account of their last names, political affiliations or presumed regional and ethnic origins.

If anything, Kibaki should be encouraged to continue poking himself in the eye by opening up all these needless fronts against forces he could easily neutralize or even neuter.

DP is the machine which made the war cry of the Agikuyu being “finished” by the Moi-KANU regime a rallying cry when they were farting on the opposition benches. To find that in late 2005 it is the same outfit that is leading the charge in the NAK era version of what the late Dr Robert Ouko called “Siasa za ku.malizana” is indeed a very ironic counterpoint that reeks of obscenity when juxtaposed against the lofty 90s platitudes and blatherings about “transparency, accountability, good governance, meritocracy” yada yada yada blah blah blah.

Totally oblivious to the turning tide against his regime, President Kibaki has decided to play a game of grim political poker almost akin to a middle age man in the throes of a mid-life crisis who decides to divorce his spouse of four decades to marry an 18 year old- all to mask his chronic erectile dysfunction, worsened by 24 hour carousing in questionable peri-urban shebeens.

Should Kibaki and his intoxicated tribal allies be daft and insane enough to carry out their threatened civil service night of the long knives, they would have just purchased one more pooch that will eventually turn around to munch them on the madiaba, or as a Luo musician called Odialo linked to Tabu Osusa’s Nairobi City Ensemble is wont to say, on their “sitting allowance”.

President Kibaki and his NAK gang will sooner or later realize the precariousness and ultimate foolishness of stacking the state with their cronies imagining that they are buying political life insurance. What they are doing is overloading a creaking and leaking dau perching uncertainly in deep turbulent waters- fifteen minutes before it sinks to the Ocean bed with all its overweight extra baggage.

In the meantime, the Orange team could reap the real trophy from this- like I said by not descending to the level of the greedy political simians desperately scooping all the spoils of a much unfinished war. All the battle victories that Kibaki and his NAK parvenu side-kicks have “won” since the conclusion of the Bomas process have been expensive pyrrhic “victories” that have served to set the stage for even more alarming, stunning and embarrassing reversals.

It would appear as if Kibaki and his team-mates have been inoculated against the truth and hermetically sealed from the rising crescendo of the wananchi’s mounting anger.

Sooner or later they will stir from their political day dreams to find themselves festering in a taka taka dump site.

By the way, I think that those civil servants who are being yanked for overtly political reasons should not take these dictatorial edicts lying down. They should legally challenge these illegal measures. Why should they make it easier for Ngilu, Kombo, Tuju, Mwakwere, Karume, Shitanda or Nyachae to employ their kith and kin. If this fight-back is worker led, it may just give the Orange team the entry-point that they so sorely need to make the transition from an outfit pre-occupied with political succession to a genuine movement articulating and championing the rights of the ordinary people of Kenya who happen to live through the sweat off their brows….

Yesterday evening I was listening to the radio and the woman inside the radio (as I used to imagine when I was five years old listening to my kwara’s =grandpa’s) SANYO transistor) was telling me in her impeccable bourgie-bourgie Kenyan upper-class English that Mheshimiwa Kibaki asked politicians not to mislead wananchi with idle talk of snap elections and that his government which has a mandate to govern for the next two years is focused on development. The President, the lady in the radio further informed me, wondered how some people were talking of elections when the country was facing mass starvation.

I wondered about that last statement.

First of all, it was just the other day that our government got major brownie points by donating relief aid to the United States following the Katrina debacle.

Secondly, there is a direct correlation between the wrong-headed “development” strategies of the NARC regime- policies which have further marginalized millions of rural Kenyans and the fact that we are facing starvation.

Does anyone remember one or two Jamhuri days ago when then cabinet minister was boasting of spending zillions in countrywide celebrations of NARC’s electoral victory? Has anyone tracked the millions the Yes Secretariat paid itself during its disastrous referendum campaign?

Where is the money to pay the 84 ministers and their assistants going to come from?

When President Kibaki took his entire family along with 90 other Kenyans to New York a few months ago, who picked up the tab?

What has been the true price tag of the Anglo-Leasing and other scandals?

Why should the president’s second wife be bankrolled by Kenyan tax payers when the President himself has gone out of his way to unleash signed denials about any matrimonial bonds with the famous “NARC activist”?

How much money have Kenyan taxpayers lost due to the fact that some of the main NAK strategies have been farmed out in-house to the president’s nephew, Alexander Mureithi?

How much money is exchanging hands right now as major players grease the hands of Kibaki connected government officials to influence the award of the Second National Landline Telephone Carrier?

Why are Kenyan taxpayers subsidizing Dr. Alfred Mutua’s daily lies and disinformation?

How transparent was the awarding of the currency contract to La Rue?

How much money would be available for famine relief if the ministers and assistant ministers came to work in the private vehicles they already own and reduced their marupu rupu by just 42.676%?

Why are Kenyan taxpayers forking out muthendi to build/revamp a brand new palace to our billionaire head of state?

Is there a connection between hunger and starvation on the one hand and agrarian reform and redistribution of incomes on the other?

Further, is there a nexus between constitutionally mandated devolution of power and food security and income generation?

As the Luos say, Penjo dwaro dwoko.

Translation:

These questions seek answers.

By the way, here is some free advice to the Orange Democratic Movement:

You do NOT HAVE TO ALWAYS spill your guts about all your latest plans. Now I agree with your Banana opponents that you simply do not have the numbers to pull off a No Confidence vote in parliament as presently constituted. But I am also aware that there is a back up, legal and perfectly constitutional way of pulling of the same feat that is almost guaranteed to succeed. Please, please, please dear compatriots: it is not a must that you call a press conference tomorrow to detail that plan.

The other thing is this:

Do not get too giddy about today’s headlines giving two of your leading lights a comfortable lead over the incumbent in the State House. The lesson of George Bush and the 2004 American Presidential elections indicate that the person who controls the levers of the state can manipulate events- using lies, scare mongering tactics and outright criminal machinations- to turn around a dreary political scenario in their ultimate favour. In other words Messrs Kalonzo, Uhuru, Raila et al, IGNORE COMPLETELY these opinion polls. Concentrate instead in building a NATIONAL democratic movement. Follow the example of Uganda’s FDC which has built viable structures district by district, region by region. With Museveni’s insecure and equally vindictive blunder we see in the press today that Dr. Kiiza Besigye, former personal physician to the Ugandan head of state (and married to Museveni’s former mistress) has leap-frogged over General Y. M-7 by a whopping 14 percentage points.


For those of us who are neither in the Orange Democratic Movement nor certified flag-wavers for the NAK neo status quo, we see the whole ruling NARC formation imploding in stages over the next one and a half years. By tearing itself away from its LDP coalition partner, the NAK gang is now going to be wracked by internal schisms and contradictions as the various cattle rustlers within it jostle for even more of the crumbs. It will sooner emerge that the parochial interests of the so called Mount Kenya Mafia will clash with the tribal ambitions of Musikari Kombo and the faded delusions of grandeur of Madam Charity Ngilu. The Mijikenda contingent of the Coast MPs currently backing the government will one day wake up to realize that those Wabara schemers are mealy mouthed back-stabbers who have no qualms about using the grievances of a section of Wapwani while simultaneously doing business with the racial/religious/ethnic adversaries of the Dzoros, Mwabozas and Shakombos.

How do left-leaning Kenyan progressive patriots take advantage of then internal paralysis within the national political mainstream?

I suggest they should resume the collective conversations and start revisiting the various road maps towards a national democratic revolution.

What BOTH feuding factions in NARC may not fully appreciate is that the wananchi may be already hankering for a political reconfiguration of Kenya that brings in brand new actors and social forces to the helm.

As I see it, there are seven burning issues which will together propel Kenya and Kenyans to a very radicalized new environment:

1. The festering constitutional question;
2. The historically unresolved land rights;
3. The serious economic crisis- as seen from the vantage point of the walahoi;
4. The gender cleavages in Kenyan society;
5. The disempowerment of our youth;
6. The continued marginalization of religious, cultural and ethnic minorities in Kenya;
7. The taking for granted by ALL mainstream politicians, of Kenya’s sizable, politically conscious, economically powerful and technologically savvy Diaspora.

These seven issues can and should form the bedrock of jump-starting a left- of-center national democratic movement.

Can the Orange Democratic Movement transform itself into such a force?

At the moment that appears unlikely, given the presence of major land owners and land grabbers in the ODM and its eagerness to be acceptable to the donor community.

The task of building this national movement then reverts back to those Kenyans who cut their teeth in anti-imperialist struggles in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the first five years of this new century.

Ironically, if this movement does arise, it will STRENGTHEN, rather than weaken the Orange Democratic Movement.

Go Figure…


Onyango Oloo
Nairobi

[kamalet]

Having been in Kenya for about a month, perhaps one of the lessons to learn is not to take anything Atwoli says too seriously - he will lick your butt and still punch you in the eye!

Like many Kenyans I am puzzled by Mogere's sacking as I know the man having been his colleague once in another employment and also having maintained contact as he changed jobs right up to his last posting. Mogere is a pretty straight forward fellow who is a nice laugh when you have a drink with him with little prentensions. If he had been compromised as to lead to his sacking, then that would be sad for a man who was my boss once. Luckily for him, in the new dispensation, he will be paid his full contract dues upfront so he has little to worry about - joining the ranks of Gen. Sumbeiyo whose severance was in the region of 10m or Nyagah about 25m at the CBK. We have a rich govt guys!

Here is why you should take what Atwoli says with a pinch of salt. The contractor he talks about is Mugoya who have since re-located to Uganda following their strangulation by Raila and NARC. Currently Mugoya are in court being sued for breach of contract over the Embakasi houses. Mugoya lost a suit to complete the remaining phases. Last month, NSSF advertised tenders for the parking plot next to its HQ, and these were being opened yesterday. You and I know who Mugoya represented during their heydays in Kenya construction. That ownership has not changed and you would wonder why Gideon would be pushing to do business with this government....... go figure Oloo!

[Onyango Oloo]

Vindictive Losers, Loose-Lipped Victors..

From: Nation Media Discussion Forum
Forum Name: Politics and Current Affairs
Forum Discription: Discuss topics currently making headlines in the news and in politics.
URL:http://www.nationmedia.com/nationfm/forum//display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=22&TopicID=6430



Topic: Vindictive Losers, Loose-Lipped Victors..
Posted By: Onyango Oloo
Subject: Vindictive Losers, Loose-Lipped Victors..
Date Posted: 21/12/2005 at 2:06pm

jukwaa.proboards58.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1135160256&page=1A Digital Examination by onyango Oloo


Replies:
Posted By: WhiteCap
Date Posted: 21/12/2005 at 2:47pm

I think what the Tourism Minsiter Dzoro should have said was that the Ice Rink would promote "Domestic Tourism".....All the monied yuppies,holly-wood wanna-bees and fashinistas with money to burn will flock the Panari......which is not bad since employment is created for poor Kenyans etc etc.....

The bit about the NSSF dude is spot on.......


Posted By: Onyango Oloo
Date Posted: 21/12/2005 at 5:32pm

Excerpt from the BBC story:

However, many Kenyans may not be able to afford the hourly skating fees of 800 Kenyan shillings ($12) for adults and Ksh 500 for children.

Tourism and Wildlife Minister Morris Dzoro told reporters at the launch on Friday that the rink could be ranked on a par with those in Europe.

"I'm glad we have realised the Kenyan dream of being the first to offer ice skating as a sport in East and Central Africa."

However, a businessman in the city expressed doubts about the cost and suitability of the venture.

"I don't know whether this is necessary for Nairobi. I think there are other priorities," he said.

[Onyango Oloo]

Mambogani _ Politics _ Vindictive Losers, Loose-Lipped Victors, Seers...
Posted by: Onyango Oloo Today, 06:03 AM

jukwaa.proboards58.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1135160256&page=1


Posted by: ebonyoriental Today, 10:18 AM

This is off-topic, but it was great seeing you on TV news here in Kenya

Posted by: Mambo Today, 02:21 PM

Oloo on the telly!! what next?!

[adongo12345]

Oloo,

The Ice rink is for people like you coming from Canada and other cold places to go and show the skills and wizardry you have mastered in the "frozen land" of Canada. I was expecting to see pictures of you doing spectacular back flips to a transfixed audience on the sidelines. I am disappointed you are not upto it yet, but I am bringing my boy up there and it will be show time. Obviously the rink will not be our first venue for entertainment. I don't want to scare the crap out of the kid by making him think he is back in Canada. He comes down there for other things.

The other day I was watching a documentary "Montreal Soccer Planet". The documentary is about the growing soccer leagues in Quebec. Quite amazing. I learnt that that soccer has been the fastest growing sport in the province for years now and draws more people in the stadia than hockey and baseball combined. You know that the gods of hockey are supposed to reside in Quebec. I don't know if you are a fun of the Montreal Canadians the fabled hockey team from Montreal. What a name. It is like having a soccer team in Nairobi called Niarobi Kenyans. I am stuck here in Toronto with the Maple Leafs who haven't won a championship since 1967 but always have their rink full to capacity. Talk about loyalty.

Anyhow one guy playing for the Black Stars from the Haitian community in Montreal commented in the documentary that the only time he has ever messed with ice is in a glass and he has no intention of changing that tradition so I can understand your misgivings.

During my college days we used to marvel at how Kenyans whose parents had enough cash to take them to the big schools were so much at pain to speak with English accent(sometimes with very little sucess). Actually during my hockey days at Kakamega High School, I was almost floored with laughter when during the National Hockey Championship games that year held at Shimo La Tewa High School in Mombasa, a group of young ladies from some high school in Nairobi started cheering us because we were beating some team from Nairobi they didn't like. The girls were shouting "Kach Mega, Kach Mega". Silly me, I didn't know that is how white folk are supposed to pronounce Kakamega. And then of course, there is always the head shake to put away that pesky hair in the face, the way white folk have to do. It looks wierd with mirros whose hair stubbornly stays fixed on the head. There is no doubt most of those wannabes are going to flock the rink to stay in tune with "civilization"

Anyhow rinkside jibes aside I think there are some very worrying signs from Kibaki. You talked about the purge in the civil service. It would appear to me that Kibaki has decided to stick it to Kenyans and see what they are going to do about it.

Apart from the high profile cases it is disturbing that 24 Chiefs and their assistants were summarily sacked by Michuki in Transmara District ati because they are not calling barazas, getting kids to go to school etc. The government's Chief Liar Alfred Mutua had the nerve to say these people were not sacked because of politics. Does Mutua excpect that the firing letters wil actually mention that people are being fired because they did not support the Kibaki garbage constitution? Of course not.

My sense is that the ODM is fighting the wrong battle in the wrong battlefield. That is why Kibaki just laughs at them and continues doing whatever he wants. The Kibaki crooks are going to be very busy. Their time is running out and they know it.

The big problem we have with the ODM (I am going to do a piece about this) is they are back to fighting the NAK crooks through the media. Kibaki and his people love that. They are very good in promising victories and thumping their chests at press conferences. People like Munyao are very brave and very victorious when it comes to issuing media threats but are complete chicken liver when you take them to the people. I don't know how many people remember that Munyao took Kibaki to Mbooni for a rally to campaign the the Wako Katiba and could not even have the courage to utter the word Katiba. Why? Because his colleagues Martha Karua and Mwangi Kianjuri were booed mercilessly by the Wananchi when they ask them to support the Draft. When Munyao's time came to introduce the president he was too scared of being humiliated and never talked about the Katiba prompting Kibaki to skip the topic himself.

That is how these paper tigers are. The have no credibility with Kenyans,a good number of them even in their own constituencies.

The ODM should take their time and take the battle to the people of Kenya in January and talk to us about what is going on whether it is the Katiba, politcal/ethnic cleansing in civil service, corruption, land and even the development agenda. I find it obscene that Kibaki is peddling the 5% economic growth as the big news in a country where 65% of the population live in extreme poverty. Let's find out from the ordinary Kenyans if they are better off today than they were in 2002. Most are worse off.

The ODM should not allow itself to be lured in fake paper wars with Kibaki and his crooks. That is a battle Kibaki will always win. The lesson we have learnt from the referendum is that the weapon for change is in the hands of the Kenyan masses not in the media houses or parliament.

I also think the ODM needs an interim program to do some basic things. For example we need a vigorous voter registration campaign all accross the country. This should be facilitated. All parties have interest there so it might be easy to put in place structures to enable continous registraion of voters and issuing of national IDs.

The issue of Kenyans in Diaspora at least as far as voting is concerned should be on the table as well. It is embarassing that countries like Iraq with all their problems have made it possible for Iraqis living out the country to vote when we can't do it in Kenya. We need a mechanism put in place to enable Kenyans abroad to vote. Again this is an area where all parties have interest.

I will have something to say about the elusive idea for progressive Kenyans to build a political tent to engage in structured politics in the country and beyond.

Adongo

[adongo12345]

Oloo,

I forgot something.

What is going on around this famine nightmare all over the country? Nobody seems to take the matter seriously. The leaders talk about sending food aid and other supplies, mostly from donors. Not even the ministers in charge of the problems in these areas- OP, water, health all those ministries -nobody is assesing the situation on the ground. Don't the lives of Kenyans matter to these people? When is Kibaki opening State House again for politicians to come and get famine relief? People need food badly in NEP, Eastern, parts of the Coast and you know in all the other places not identified as famine areas, people are probably eating hardly enough to keep alive.

What are the long term solutions? How do we get in this mess, every year? Poor rains?

Can you folks do some detailed expose on the famine crisis in the nation? What are the roots of the problem. We hear a lot about a growing economy? Why then do we have even more hunger, starvation and disease all across the land.?

What exactly is the problem?

Oloo, it would be good if you could visit some of the badly affected areas and talk to people on the ground (God save those already under the ground) and share your sense of what is going on.

Raging starvation and famine in the country should not be a footnote in the national discourse for our country.

Adongo

[Onyango Oloo]

Adongo:

Greetings from Nairobi.

Both Njuguna Mutahi and Nganga Thiong'o say long time no hear, no see...

You know, I do not have a problem with ice-skating rinks in the Sahara or Mandera per se. What I am aghast at is the idea that this could promote "tourism". It is like hiring a third rate karaoke singer from my village of Luanda Dudi to have a nightly gig at Club Afrique located at Nairobi's International Casino doing really awful renditions of Michael Jackson's greatest hits as a way of encouraging more African-Americans to hop on the plane for a must- see Safari to Kenya.

Regarding the ODM- sina na la ziada.

About visiting some of those famine stricken areas, let me inform you that the whole of Kenya is a famine stricken area. I live in Nairobi and on a daily basis, the tales of woe from perfect strangers looking to catch a break is simply heart-breaking.

I will say more about this at a later date.

Onyango Oloo
Nairobi

[adongo12345]

Faces of Hunger in Kenya:















Human misery as famine hits Kenya --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Patrick Mathangani


The haunting cries of the little girl were barely audible outside her mother’s hut at Qalankalisa, a small village some 200 kilometres South of Mandera town.

Suddenly, a miniature dust devil slammed against the tumbledown shack, threatening to rip off the roofing made from old cloth and dry twigs. The wind drowned the cries, but they came back again, oscillating between shrieks and sobs, piercing the morning outside that was already baking in the sun.


Too weak to carry it, a woman rolls home a drum of water in Mandera District. Most dams that used to serve the area have dried up. Pic by Maxwell Agwanda


Inside the hut, Timira Shugri held the little girl in her frail hands, nursing her baby, but offering nothing to pacify her. She writhed in evident discomfort, her little soul ravaged by hunger and want.

The looks on their faces told it all: mother and daughter had had nothing to eat overnight and another long day of hunger pangs and hopeless waiting was staring them in the face.

"We had nothing to eat last night," said Timira, pointing at the disused hearth, now only occupied by cold ash. "There was nothing to eat this morning and we don’t know what will happen. This is like a bad curse."


Prolonged drought

Indeed, this is the curse that has befallen over 300,000 residents of the desolate district of Mandera, where 10 people have been officially confirmed dead due to starvation. Dozens more are feared to have died without being reported.

Livestock carcasses dot the desolate plains, where prolonged drought has killed pasture. Scores of dams and seasonal rivers that used to quench the area have dried up, and residents and local leaders predict a looming funeral parlour if nothing is done now.

"We fear that by the end of January, there will be nothing called cattle in this district," said Mandera Central MP Billow Kerrow.

There has been no rain in the past three seasons and most of the pastoralists who roam the plains in search of pasture have given up and returned to the towns to wait for the cattle to die.

Aid workers and government officials say the situation is fast deteriorating and fear that competition for water could trigger ethnic fighting between the communities. In the past, the district has witnessed inter-clan and ethnic fighting in which scores have died.

At Elwak Sub-district hospital, Mohammed Molole sat on a small stone, his eyes staring blankly at fellow pastoralists and visitors. Around him, nearly 100 elderly men and women sat in a similar position waiting for the hospital’s staff to distribute food.

Molole cleared his throat, gathering up energy to tell his story. Last Saturday, the famine claimed the last of his 298 head of cattle and left him a destitute man.

"I was a rich man, now I have nothing," he said, gesticulating in desperation. Like many men in the area, Molole is polygamous. His five wives – three have walked out of the marriage – all have 31 children. Still, he has to take care of them, yet he cannot even feed his own stomach.

His last surviving cow died at a village called Sire, just a day after Molole gave up looking for pasture and decided to seek refuge at El Wak town. He had spent three months roaming the plains and driving the cattle over 100 kilometres to search for pasture. When he had the strength, he would travel for 15 kilometres in a day, only to sleep on a hungry stomach and resume the journey the following morning.

"Since I was born, I have never seen anything like this. I’m an old man now and I don’t know how to survive in town."

His youngest child is only seven years old and none of his children has ever been to school.

"I could have some more children, but there is no strength left now."

Out of 19 people admitted at the hospital, four are elderly men who were carried to the hospital by relatives.


Severe malnutrition

Several children had been moved to the labour ward because the pediatric ward was full. Here, they lay with their mothers. Doctors are struggling to save the children, who are suffering from severe malnutrition and dysentery. But the poorly equipped hospital is overstretched and has only 28 beds, according to the medical superintendent Mr Osman Abdul Adan. A member of staff says scores of beds were stolen during inter-clan fighting that hit the area last April.

A kilometre away, grandmother Habiba Isaak has been lying motionless in her house for the past one week. Her body drained of sap by countless days of hunger, her relatives have given up any hopes of her waking up again. Daughter Ithai Isaakow dreads life without her mother, who has been helping her bring up her nine children. Ithai was widowed long ago.

"Can somebody help us," said Ithai, staring at visitors with teary, pleading eyes. "I don’t want her to die. I don’t know what will happen to me and the children."

The breathtaking beauty of the jagged Takaba hills silhouetted against the crimson evening sky give a misleading impression about life here. Huge rocks resting atop the hills offer a stunning view that caresses a tired soul.


Robbing the dying

But below the hills, hungry and thirsty residents numbering nearly 23,000 are just settling back into their oval makeshift houses half buried in the sand. It is the end of another long day spent walking tens of kilometres in search of water and pasture for their livestock.

The two dams outside the town have dried up. The Warera River flowing from Ethiopia has dried up.

There are fears that Takaba Boys Secondary School, with 320 students, may not re-open in January because parents lack fees and are burdened by the famine.

Government tankers are drawing water from a borehole in Shimpir Fatuma, nearly 100 kilometres away. The Government insists that the water should be given out free, but residents say the drivers have been charging Sh10 per a 20-litre jerrican. The money is ostensibly used to fuel the tankers. Residents view this as a clear case of robbing the dying.

Driver Abdulahi Noor, who has been ferrying water over a distance of 400 kilometres across Mandera Central Constituency, swears that no money has been given to buy fuel.

Qalanqalisa chief Abdulahi Isaak does not see anything wrong in the water fees charged to residents, saying it was "just a way of giving thanks to the drivers."

"Sometimes, the driver asks for tea, but we just pay him because we want water. Sometimes, he works overnight and it’s only fair that we reward him," says the chief.

(Standard Dec 23, 2005)

Below is another view from a Standard Columnist

www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=34039

[kamalet]

This country is so full of sad stories...and worse still is that they are avoidable.

As indicated above, the media has put boring political stories aside and the sell story is the famine situation. Last night virtually all TV stations had the lead story ofthe situation in Mandera with the local MP Billow Kerrow the outstanding star calling on the government to do something blah blah!

I told myself, " wait a minute, this thing did not start yesterday or even last week. We did not just notice that cattle are dying and we have buried 12 starving Kenyans!"

This Billow Kerrow fellow just remembered the famine when the media highlighted the story. All this time he was stuck in ODM politics and how the government is overspending with a bloated cabinet - all this time people in his constituency were dying! Earlier in the week we had Musila and the darling-president-in waiting-through-a-poll, Kalonzo were calling on the government to do something because some Kamba fellows were about to die. My mind goes ditto as in the case of Kerrow!

You can then imagine my horror when I read that Kalonzo will be holding a "PARTY" for his supporters to thank them for god knows what! So our darling-president-in waiting-through-a-poll, in the midst of death in Mwingi wants to hold a party for his political supporters to celebrate.

Well, this is why I keep saying that none of these politicians we suck up to have our welfare at heart. Only when in the glare of the media do Kenyans seem to matter!

[miguna]

Crying Shame on the Kibaki Government! Shame! A government's job is to care for its people. Spending millions on a skating rink; looting gvt coffers; wasting our tax money; and spending ostantatiously on themselves - Kibaki and his coteries have LOST IT COMPLETELY. This is VERY VERY SAD.

Sulif Ali (Toronto) is trying to initiate some kind of "response" from Kenyans in Ontario. But from what I gleaned elsewhere, it appears as if there is "enough food"; what is lacking is the government's will, commitment and organization to deluver the food to its people. Shame!
[unedited]
-Miguna-

[miguna]

Kamau: Hellow? Kerrow, Kalonzo and ODM ARE NOT the Kenyan Government.

Kibaki has not even addressed Kenyans and announced what his government is doing about it. Oh my goodness! You mean you are this BAD?

[adongo12345]

Kamale,

Interesting observations, with frightening callousness, if I may add. I am glad to know the Kenyan media has found the tragedy of mass hunger and starvation in the country "sell-able" news to use your inference.

I notice you are not too happy that Bill Kerrow was all over the TV screens telling Kenyans about the plight of the 300,000 people facing death by starvation in Mandera, the area he represents in parliament.

You also seem to take issue with Kalonzo, "president-in-waiting by poll", pleading through the media for food aid to people in his area, while organizing a party.

What shocks me with your intervention Ndugu Kamale, is that it doesn't enrage you that the President of the Republic of Kenya Mwai Kibaki, already assembling his entourage at the Coast for year-end bash, hasn't said a word when 2.5 million Kenyans by conservative reports are facing famine and starvation. You would think the president would interrupt his "busy" schedule to at least console his people and assure them of immediate government assistance.

What can we say when none of the 80 plus new cabinet members seem to have time for this catastrophe in the nation (Most of them don't seem to have noticed it).

Yes, famine is not a one day event. It has been going on for years. But we have reached the disaster level. The survival strings for many communities most affected already well known to the government and aid agencies has snapped.

The bloated and embarrassing Kibaki cabinet is not likely to meet until after new year. From what we are hearing, their main preoccupation would be congratulating themselves on their victory this time against Wanjiku herself and how to protect Kibaki(remember the new oath). They will be busy talking about "development" and trying to repackage the Wako fraud for the wapumbavus. And so the cycle will just go on, but somewhere along the line reality must catch up with our politicians and particularly our government.

During the referendum campaign politicians were competing about who would visit Mandera to campaign. There were no shortages of helicopters including police helicopters delivering the Martha Karuas and Michukis to Mandera.

I think trying to drag the ODM into this doesn't make sense. They are not the government. Even if Kalonzo was to carry all the food at his party to the starving people in Mwingi, it wouldn't change a thing.

Why is the government not using military and police helicopters to deliver food? Reports indicate the country has plenty of food elsewhere.

Secondly what is the government's overall plan for dealing with this famine crisis which has been growing according to reports for the last three years and is worsening? The ministry for special projects was allegedly created for purposes of dealing with problems like this. What is in the works and what are the strategic plans of this ministry? The minister should be talking to the public and explaining why things got to this point.

Third what has the Kibaki government put in place to ensure food security and sufficiency in the country? There are tens of master plans Kibaki unveils whenever he visits each area. I am sure another one is about to be unveiled in the coast to smother the burning concerns of the public. I know a big one was unveiled for Nyanza recently when Tuju visited State House to promise Kibaki votes (he managed 1,300), overtaking a previous one unveiled when the president visited South Nyanza. Where do all these master plans end when we can see absolutely nothing happening on the ground to deal with absolute poverty and medieval living conditions for millions of Kenyans, which is the root of the problem?

Oloo was right in his assessment that the whole nation faces starvation regardless of where you live. As we speak, thousands of kids and adults live from dustbins in every city and town in Kenya. In Nairobi, slum dwellers live from hand to mouth and some sleep over running and raw sewage in makeshift shacks.

Take the story of this tough and truly amazing kid



www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=63915

I am sure there are thousands upon thousands of kids like Daudi across the length and breadth of our nation, but he has helped to put a human face to the orphans everybody likes to talk about. The utter resourcefulness of the kid and his friends, even before the harrowing 700 km journey all of which he traveled within inches of death, is just breath-taking. And then the cheerfulness and youthful optimism. How can we afford to dump the Daudi generation and still hope to be a nation in good standing with the civilized world? They won't allow us. That is the good news.

Elsewhere, the working poor are precariously juggling to put food on the table(floor), keep their kids in school and run circles with the landlord, not to forget the local loan shark holding the family radio. Even the middle income earners are overrun just to provide for basic needs.

In most rural areas people use water from earth dams and share it with livestock. And due to the fact that in most of these places sewage systems are none existent most human waste end up in the same water dams. The toll on the people in terms of disease is immeasurable. And agriculture among the millions of subsistent farmers in our country involves using ancient tools. Folks still use hoes to till the land. How far are you going to go with that? Others use oxen/donkey ploughs. In many communities there is one ox plough for may be 20 families. The result? Most of them are going to miss the season. How much imagination and resources do we need to solve these problems? Don't tell us how much grain the country has produced yadah yadah when millions of farmers who live on what they produce have no viable means of maximizing the productivity of their land and labour.

Look at the fish industry. Kshs 6 billion a year industry. Wow. 90% of that is from Lake Victoria. Why then are Kenyans living around Lake Victoria and working their butts off in this lake some of the poorest in the nation and indeed in the world? Because none of that immense wealth that the community produces goes back to that community. Where does the wealth they create go? You tell me.

What I know is that the average fishing folk in my home area for example does not even have a boat engine. They have to row their boats into the lake and come back the next day. They use bad nets, in fact they spend most of the time patching up nets by the lake. Obviously they are not going very far competing with those with engined boats, state of the art commercial nets na kadhalika.

Then the small scale trader, mostly women, and boy do they ever work hard. They are terrific, but they have no storage facilities. They buy the fish and have to sell them same day to re coop their money and at least have something left at least to eat and get a little cash to buy salt and sugar. Anything not sold is practical waste. They have to turn it into obambla, actually there is a whole chain of traders that purchase the "bad fish" and do the obambla. I tell you the ingenuity of these people is their salvation.

Meanwhile the big shots from Nairobi are using trawlers to harvest millions of tons of fish and shipping them in refrigerated trucks to Thika for processing. Some have built up processing plants in the fishing region where they literally rip off desperate workers.

How hard can it be to make available modern fishing gear to the small fella, provide communal refrigeration facilities run under coops, provide structured soft loan financing to local fishing population? If such facilities were available and sustainable and not just mere gimmicks and announcement for votes, the local folks would compete fairly and even out do the big guns. If we can keep our fish fresh and harvest more, we can build our own processing plants and make direct deals for export. It is not a miracle. All it takes the political will to provide for the needs of ordinary Kenyans as opposed to worshiping mythical "economic growth" index numbers and big returns for the big corporations.

Until we start thinking from this angle, in all areas of production including agriculture and industrialization in our country, I am afraid their will be more famines, starvation, hunger and a guarantee that those living below the poverty level will increase to completely unmanageable numbers even for those who think they have the situation under control.

I wanted to say more and I will later.

Thanks folks.

Adongo

[Onyango Oloo]

www.timesnews.co.ke/24dec05/nwsstory/opinion1.html

[kamalet]

Adongo,

Call it callousness, but what honestly saddens me is that Kenyans died when politicians were totally removed from the plight of Kenyans. As I said, I do not believe that the Kenyans started dying when the media broke the story. Kenyans and their animals were dying when we fought over bananas and oranges, when we were mourning the loss of the vote, when we were cutting cakes at uhuru park celebrating the vote win, when we were awaiting a new cabinet, when we were refusing cabinet appointments and when we criticised the cabinet!

Being removed from the tragedy, we can sit here and play the blame game. Just where was Kerrow when the animals started dying? Where was the local administration when the hunger pangs led to Kenyans dying? Unfortunately, blaming Kerrow or Kibaki will not bring back the lives that were lost. In the same vein, it reeks of hypocrisy for the local leaders to blame the government for doing nothing when they never highlighted the severity of the problem.

But if we are happy to criticise Kibaki for going down to the coast on holiday when all this is happening, perhaps we should not spare the headhonchos of the group we keep thinking will deliver Kenyans to canaan. Those that are happy to hold a party in celebration of some political result whilst all around them are dying!

Having spent my holidays at the hot and desolate Lake Magadi, I can share the hardships of the people from the area, and which I imagine is not any different to the situation elsewhere in the country where the rains failed.

My observation is that we are a nation of lopsided priorities. We can cut by half the problem of famine by attending to the perennial problem of famine if a lot more thought was put into the planning.....

[adongo12345]

Kamale

Happy New Year

I am glad you got my point and doubly glad that Kenyans dragged Kibaki out of his comfort zone in Mombasa to deal with the famine crisis. So far we are just touching the tip of the iceberg (no relation to the icerink). It is going to be a tough battle to feed the nation.

Kenyans have responded to the crisis with empathy and action. That is good. The big challenge awaits.

Why so much misery in the midst of alleged economic boom in the country? What is wrong with our priorities? What really is the model we need to adopt to pull the bulk of our population out of absolute poverty?

Those are the questions we take to the New Year.

Adongo

[kamalet]

Adongo,

A Happy New Year to you too!

I think one of the positives we can derive from the mess we are in is that whilst we have appealed for assistance from the international community, the government has been able to initially fund the problem from its resources without having to kill some projects. Perhaps the increased tax collection has been the bigger help.

Personally, I have seen a lot of positives in the economy of Kenya. Unfortunately, these positives will take quite some time before they can trickle to the poor Kenyan - and a lot of us should be under no such illusions that what was wrecked in 24 years of Moi misrule can be undone in 3 years. They key is not to lose focus on poverty alleviation.