Saturday, December 25, 2010
This land is my land, this land is your land.
comme ci comme ca: This land is my land, this land is your land.: "Humankind is essentially and generally a social animal. One of the highest order social species known today. Humans have been known to trave..."
This land is my land, this land is your land.
Humankind is essentially and generally a social animal. One of the highest order social species known today. Humans have been known to travel thousands of kilometers (or miles) for that matter, to seek out greener pastures, more accommodating climates, better social comforts, safety from persecution, adventure and have proven to be able to make any place-however habitable or inhabitable-home.
It is widely accepted that humans settlement originally started somewhere in Africa and spread out throughout the world with different peoples settling in different regions that seemed to favour their aspirations at the time.
With the advent of sophisticated methods of travel and communication however, humans have re-visited their zeal to move and find alternative habitats, hunting grounds, the world over. Peoples have moved from regions earlier designated as their 'reserve' to regions where they would have been regarded as foreigners and have taken root, calling it home. There are members of the white race, the Asiatic peoples calling Africa, sub-Sahara Africa, home. They have become natives in these regions. There are black peoples calling Europe, the Americas and Asia their home. Orientals are known to be in the deep west and that boundary is now not so distinct-there is an uncanny Nipponese/Peruvian connection that simply suggests that east is west and west is east.
My point is that the world peoples have always been one. There has never been that sense of ownership, that sense of belonging, that feeling that a certain region belongs to a certain people. This has been proven time and again, through millennia and all those who espouse these sentiments have been rudely re-educated by the passage of time. Our ancestral lands remain ancestral as long as we all belong to the same ancestors. Let's let the government resettle all our landless where there is adequate, uninhabited land and let's move on. It is such a disgrace to have people celebrating Christmas in refugee camps- refugees in their own land because of our culture/cancer of impunity.
It is widely accepted that humans settlement originally started somewhere in Africa and spread out throughout the world with different peoples settling in different regions that seemed to favour their aspirations at the time.
With the advent of sophisticated methods of travel and communication however, humans have re-visited their zeal to move and find alternative habitats, hunting grounds, the world over. Peoples have moved from regions earlier designated as their 'reserve' to regions where they would have been regarded as foreigners and have taken root, calling it home. There are members of the white race, the Asiatic peoples calling Africa, sub-Sahara Africa, home. They have become natives in these regions. There are black peoples calling Europe, the Americas and Asia their home. Orientals are known to be in the deep west and that boundary is now not so distinct-there is an uncanny Nipponese/Peruvian connection that simply suggests that east is west and west is east.
My point is that the world peoples have always been one. There has never been that sense of ownership, that sense of belonging, that feeling that a certain region belongs to a certain people. This has been proven time and again, through millennia and all those who espouse these sentiments have been rudely re-educated by the passage of time. Our ancestral lands remain ancestral as long as we all belong to the same ancestors. Let's let the government resettle all our landless where there is adequate, uninhabited land and let's move on. It is such a disgrace to have people celebrating Christmas in refugee camps- refugees in their own land because of our culture/cancer of impunity.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Who is fooling who?
Just what happens to academic brilliance and intellect when one spends time in 'the august house' in Nairobi?
It seems like every academic who ventures into this house is churned round and round and turned into just a heckler of the lowest mental faculty.
Professors, doctors, lawyers-a.k.a. 'learned friends', theologians, all end up behaving like they have never been schooled in any form of educational institution where rational reasoning and forms of decorum and discourse is instilled.
-Most recent manifestation: A trained lawyer who happens to be a Cabinet minister (in suspension) has called on the government to put up a legal defense team-personnel and funds, for the 'Ocampo six'. Does he really know what he is talking about? Does he know that he is essentially calling for the government to defend 'the six' against the victims of the PEV (post elections violence)? Does he know that he is asking the country to rally behind 'the six' as they defend themselves against the allegations by the victims/survivers of the PIV (politicians' invoked violence) of our yesteryears?-or who does he see as the complainant in the Hague trials? Ocampo? As a lawyer, shouldn't he be in the forefront to educate and explain to the lesser mortals, the unlearned friends, the implications and complexities of the legal procedures at play?
Mr Minister, with all due respect, I submit that you ought to concentrate on your own defense in the yet to be resolved 'Tokyo Connection' and leave Kenyans to decide themselves on who to charge or defend as far as PIV or grand corruption is concerned.
It seems like every academic who ventures into this house is churned round and round and turned into just a heckler of the lowest mental faculty.
Professors, doctors, lawyers-a.k.a. 'learned friends', theologians, all end up behaving like they have never been schooled in any form of educational institution where rational reasoning and forms of decorum and discourse is instilled.
-Most recent manifestation: A trained lawyer who happens to be a Cabinet minister (in suspension) has called on the government to put up a legal defense team-personnel and funds, for the 'Ocampo six'. Does he really know what he is talking about? Does he know that he is essentially calling for the government to defend 'the six' against the victims of the PEV (post elections violence)? Does he know that he is asking the country to rally behind 'the six' as they defend themselves against the allegations by the victims/survivers of the PIV (politicians' invoked violence) of our yesteryears?-or who does he see as the complainant in the Hague trials? Ocampo? As a lawyer, shouldn't he be in the forefront to educate and explain to the lesser mortals, the unlearned friends, the implications and complexities of the legal procedures at play?
Mr Minister, with all due respect, I submit that you ought to concentrate on your own defense in the yet to be resolved 'Tokyo Connection' and leave Kenyans to decide themselves on who to charge or defend as far as PIV or grand corruption is concerned.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Towards the death of impunity....
The recent flurry of activity in the usually sluggish body of public servants we call parliamentarians is in itself an indicator that something they hold close to their hearts is in jeopardy.
We usually see this when a bill is in the works to raise their perks, salaries or to introduce taxation to their incomes. This time around, the catalysing factor is the implication of guilt of some (if not all) in their midst, in the now infamous PEV of 2008. More so the implicated ones had been seen to be standard bearers in the forthcoming general elections in 2012. Some budding coalitions have been jolted loose and now they have no one to gravitate to. The KKK alliance is now an outfit without a center-bolt or a strong chassis.
Most of us might sigh with relief at the scuttling of 'the unholy trinity' and wish that our parliamentarians exhibited the same animation when deliberating matters affecting the ordinary citizens like finding ways to alleviate the living standards of those living in abject poverty, like coming up with ways and means to have all stolen billions from public coffers repatriated and the thieves put in public housing (jails and prisons)
My prayer is that we Kenyans, as a nation do not lose this opportunity to embed or entrench the fight against impunity that the ICC is instilling in our national mindset. We need to come to terms and accept that as our constitution holds, no one is above the law and all citizens are accountable to the nation and the human community the world over. At this stage where we are at a cross-roads, where we have the chance to progress forward into a corruption, impunity free future, chances are the same that we may take the wrong turn and revert to where we were before. We need to take the bold step forward, towards the road unto our 'glasnost and perestroika'.
We usually see this when a bill is in the works to raise their perks, salaries or to introduce taxation to their incomes. This time around, the catalysing factor is the implication of guilt of some (if not all) in their midst, in the now infamous PEV of 2008. More so the implicated ones had been seen to be standard bearers in the forthcoming general elections in 2012. Some budding coalitions have been jolted loose and now they have no one to gravitate to. The KKK alliance is now an outfit without a center-bolt or a strong chassis.
Most of us might sigh with relief at the scuttling of 'the unholy trinity' and wish that our parliamentarians exhibited the same animation when deliberating matters affecting the ordinary citizens like finding ways to alleviate the living standards of those living in abject poverty, like coming up with ways and means to have all stolen billions from public coffers repatriated and the thieves put in public housing (jails and prisons)
My prayer is that we Kenyans, as a nation do not lose this opportunity to embed or entrench the fight against impunity that the ICC is instilling in our national mindset. We need to come to terms and accept that as our constitution holds, no one is above the law and all citizens are accountable to the nation and the human community the world over. At this stage where we are at a cross-roads, where we have the chance to progress forward into a corruption, impunity free future, chances are the same that we may take the wrong turn and revert to where we were before. We need to take the bold step forward, towards the road unto our 'glasnost and perestroika'.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Kilio Cha Haki!!!
comme ci comme ca: Kilio Cha Haki!!!: "So the birds of the feather have realised that some in the flock have to land (and probably nest) in the Hague. Now they are frantic to have..."
Kilio Cha Haki!!!
So the birds of the feather have realised that some in the flock have to land (and probably nest) in the Hague. Now they are frantic to have the rules bent so that these unlucky birds don't have to be scrutinised by the esteemed International body.
Me asks; were the names first released by Ocampo belonged to some ordinary Kenyan wananchi, would the law makers have been so prompt and spontaneous to craft ways and means to thwart the Hague agenda?
When they seek to have Ocampo and company declared personae without legal standi to prosecute Kenyans, are they thinking of all the perpetrators of the PEV yet to be named or are they only thinking of these 'principle six'?
Stop this hypocrisy!
All persons will be held innocent until proven guilty, be they government ministers, administrators or otherwise.
These recent happenings only shout out what all Kenyans have come to know about their members of parliament-they are only interested in ordinary wananchi as long as there are votes to be cast in parliamentary elections, after that, it's everyone for themselves and God for us all. The PEV IDPs are still in the cold in the camps, and the MPs are busy fighting to block justice. They only want the proceedings out of the ICC because they feel they may not be able to influence the outcomes. They want to do it 'the Kenyan way' which we all know is centered on 'who one is, whom one knows or/and what one owns or is worth.'
Put simply, they want to do nothing.-Exactly what they have been doing since 2008 when they settled on the august seats in the august house. Eat and not let others eat!
Me asks; were the names first released by Ocampo belonged to some ordinary Kenyan wananchi, would the law makers have been so prompt and spontaneous to craft ways and means to thwart the Hague agenda?
When they seek to have Ocampo and company declared personae without legal standi to prosecute Kenyans, are they thinking of all the perpetrators of the PEV yet to be named or are they only thinking of these 'principle six'?
Stop this hypocrisy!
All persons will be held innocent until proven guilty, be they government ministers, administrators or otherwise.
These recent happenings only shout out what all Kenyans have come to know about their members of parliament-they are only interested in ordinary wananchi as long as there are votes to be cast in parliamentary elections, after that, it's everyone for themselves and God for us all. The PEV IDPs are still in the cold in the camps, and the MPs are busy fighting to block justice. They only want the proceedings out of the ICC because they feel they may not be able to influence the outcomes. They want to do it 'the Kenyan way' which we all know is centered on 'who one is, whom one knows or/and what one owns or is worth.'
Put simply, they want to do nothing.-Exactly what they have been doing since 2008 when they settled on the august seats in the august house. Eat and not let others eat!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Grand Coalitions for Greater Corruption and Nation...
comme ci comme ca: Grand Coalitions for Greater Corruption and Nation...: "...It happened in Nairobi in 2008, then later on in 2009 in Harare and now it is happening in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. Is this the lates..."
Grand Coalitions for Greater Corruption and Nation...
comme ci comme ca: Grand Coalitions for Greater Corruption and Nation...: "...It happened in Nairobi in 2008, then later on in 2009 in Harare and now it is happening in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. Is this the lates..."
Grand Coalitions for Greater Corruption and National Plunder, Afrika Inc.
...It happened in Nairobi in 2008, then later on in 2009 in Harare and now it is happening in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. Is this the latest trend that Afrika has to offer the world, considering that Afrika is the cradle of mankind?
This is very disheartening and disappointing! It is a trend that all progressive minded citizens of Afrika- both on the continent and in the diaspora need to address to nip in the bud before it becomes a continental plague.
A peoples' will should not be blatantly sacrificed on the alter of greed, and impunity.
'....Rise! Ye mighty people!.' ' Them belly full but we're hungry!... '- laments 'the prophet' in the grave.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Twapenda Jamhuri Yetu...
comme ci comme ca: Twapenda Jamhuri Yetu...: "There is a 'Tom and Jerry' circus playing out between the plotting foreigners, who are allegedly trying to topple our government and our plu..."
Twapenda Jamhuri Yetu...
There is a 'Tom and Jerry' circus playing out between the plotting foreigners, who are allegedly trying to topple our government and our plundering leaders! I am still trying to rationalise my predicament and figure out the humour of it all, if any, and I'm just about to get to a conclusion. It is despicable! I still find it curious that our leaders have not mentioned anything about the stolen billions that have been itemised for us to see, but have poured vitriol on the allegations of millions being poured into the country for the youth to use in toppling the country's leadership. It very much reminds me of the days Moi used to scream on mountain tops about scheming foreign masters pouring funds to topple his regime! Looks like we did not change at all. The stark reality of our situation is very apparent; out goes the white colonialist, in comes the black colonialist, out goes the Moi dictatorship, in comes the Grand dictatorship.
Dare I say that some, if not all, of the people demonstrating against the 'evil envoys' may have been paid by the plundering indigenous thieves? How come the police have licensed these groups' intended demonstrations so easily? There's a stinking rat here and we need to be more transparent with each other as a nation-the governors and the governed. Just who's fooling who?
How comes nobody is demonstrating to have the stolen billions repatriated to the country to fund the healing of some of our self inflicted plagues like the resettling of the IDPs, rehabilitation of our slums and infrastructure? Yes, who's fooling who?
Oh how I crave for actual, real, meaningful change for my country. Dare I shout, 'Yes we can!'? or will I be labeled as yet another stooge of the foreign masters trying to impose their ways on the peaceful peoples of Kenya?
Dare I say that some, if not all, of the people demonstrating against the 'evil envoys' may have been paid by the plundering indigenous thieves? How come the police have licensed these groups' intended demonstrations so easily? There's a stinking rat here and we need to be more transparent with each other as a nation-the governors and the governed. Just who's fooling who?
How comes nobody is demonstrating to have the stolen billions repatriated to the country to fund the healing of some of our self inflicted plagues like the resettling of the IDPs, rehabilitation of our slums and infrastructure? Yes, who's fooling who?
Oh how I crave for actual, real, meaningful change for my country. Dare I shout, 'Yes we can!'? or will I be labeled as yet another stooge of the foreign masters trying to impose their ways on the peaceful peoples of Kenya?
comme ci comme ca: Jamhuri Day Njema!
comme ci comme ca: Jamhuri Day Njema!: "In the wake of the disclosures by wikileaks (though most of it is information we already suspected), it is our hope that our leaders will be..."
Jamhuri Day Njema!
In the wake of the disclosures by wikileaks (though most of it is information we already suspected), it is our hope that our leaders will be reminded that all they do in the dark will be brought to light one of these days and that their actions will be laid bare for all to see. Let the national economic thieves repatriate the stolen resources so that we could sit together and chart our future with a clear national conscience. Let's have more 'glasnost and perestroika''-Kenyan style, to move us in the new political configuration spelled out by the new constitution.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Prophets of Doom and the Profits of Doom
Doom's day prophets or are they prophets of doom have had their days in the sun for Kenya, many times in the past.
The colonialists declared indigenous leaders, the late Jomo Kenyatta, to be specific, 'leaders unto darkness and death' insinuating that replacing their (colonial) governance with that of Kenyatta and his cronies would plunge the nation unto darkness and death.
This was soon to be self evident that it was just a phantom fear held by an individual and propagated to a minority white population and on to the colonial masters in Europe. Kenyatta later on assumed leadership of this nation and was soon deified by the mostly ignorant and marginalised masses catalysed by the few cronies in his 'power train'. To imagine his death was outlawed and was treasonable! There could not be Kenya without the aptly named leader- Kenyatta (how did he get this name anyway?)
In 1978, the gods crashed and hit the dust! Kenyatta had died! The whole nation held it's breath! The unthinkable had happened. The nation waited for the inevitable explosion or implosion. Life stood still, only the clock of time was audible- click...clock...click...clock...click...
Whatever we waited for did not happen. Then as a nation, we exhaled. We tentatively resumed our daily chores, cautiously; lest we unbalance the delicate setup of things. We could not refer to the late president as the usual 'Marehemu', our language doctors referred to him as 'Hayati'. Even post humous, he was not 'an ordinary deceased-' marehemu wa kawaida'. Marehemu is a mwananchi wa kawaida (a regular citizen) after dying.
After we survived the death of our first president, the celebrated 'Moi error' saw the nation through the subsequent twenty something years. Moi himself once declared in front of his whole cabinet including his vice-president, that no one was capable of governing Kenya other than himself. They all agreed with him and even clapped for him for enlightening the nation thus! There would be no Kenya without Moi! He would dare the whole nation anytime change of leadership sentiments were hinted. He referred to anyone not toe-ing his line (following his foot-steps), as 'disgruntled elements' or 'drug addicts'- these included some of the leaders in government today. His cronies went on to device proofs that without Moi Kenya would be chaotic by planning, facilitating and executing ethnic clashes from the 1992 general elections and these machinations are still haunting us today.
Now, some of those who have benefitted from politic-induced ethnic suspicions, animosities and political patronage since those days of post 1992 change of governance are shouting that Kenya will not be the same if they are tried by the ICC sitting in Hague, or Nairobi. They would like us to believe that they are best left alone, their guilt/innocence not proven for the sake of Kenya. They would like us to believe that they are the pillars that Kenya is built on and that they are best left untouched lest the very foundations of this nation crack and tumble.
Let them be told that Kenyans have been tested and found not wanting- as far as their political maturity is concerned. They may not be as reactionary as some might want them to be. They are able to rationalise matters in their own way and they surely know that their leaders are not wholly sacrosanct, and they sure as the sky is up above know that some of these leaders have the blood of innocent Kenyans in their hands. These 'leaders' sincerely deserve their day in court.
The colonialists declared indigenous leaders, the late Jomo Kenyatta, to be specific, 'leaders unto darkness and death' insinuating that replacing their (colonial) governance with that of Kenyatta and his cronies would plunge the nation unto darkness and death.
This was soon to be self evident that it was just a phantom fear held by an individual and propagated to a minority white population and on to the colonial masters in Europe. Kenyatta later on assumed leadership of this nation and was soon deified by the mostly ignorant and marginalised masses catalysed by the few cronies in his 'power train'. To imagine his death was outlawed and was treasonable! There could not be Kenya without the aptly named leader- Kenyatta (how did he get this name anyway?)
In 1978, the gods crashed and hit the dust! Kenyatta had died! The whole nation held it's breath! The unthinkable had happened. The nation waited for the inevitable explosion or implosion. Life stood still, only the clock of time was audible- click...clock...click...clock...click...
Whatever we waited for did not happen. Then as a nation, we exhaled. We tentatively resumed our daily chores, cautiously; lest we unbalance the delicate setup of things. We could not refer to the late president as the usual 'Marehemu', our language doctors referred to him as 'Hayati'. Even post humous, he was not 'an ordinary deceased-' marehemu wa kawaida'. Marehemu is a mwananchi wa kawaida (a regular citizen) after dying.
After we survived the death of our first president, the celebrated 'Moi error' saw the nation through the subsequent twenty something years. Moi himself once declared in front of his whole cabinet including his vice-president, that no one was capable of governing Kenya other than himself. They all agreed with him and even clapped for him for enlightening the nation thus! There would be no Kenya without Moi! He would dare the whole nation anytime change of leadership sentiments were hinted. He referred to anyone not toe-ing his line (following his foot-steps), as 'disgruntled elements' or 'drug addicts'- these included some of the leaders in government today. His cronies went on to device proofs that without Moi Kenya would be chaotic by planning, facilitating and executing ethnic clashes from the 1992 general elections and these machinations are still haunting us today.
Now, some of those who have benefitted from politic-induced ethnic suspicions, animosities and political patronage since those days of post 1992 change of governance are shouting that Kenya will not be the same if they are tried by the ICC sitting in Hague, or Nairobi. They would like us to believe that they are best left alone, their guilt/innocence not proven for the sake of Kenya. They would like us to believe that they are the pillars that Kenya is built on and that they are best left untouched lest the very foundations of this nation crack and tumble.
Let them be told that Kenyans have been tested and found not wanting- as far as their political maturity is concerned. They may not be as reactionary as some might want them to be. They are able to rationalise matters in their own way and they surely know that their leaders are not wholly sacrosanct, and they sure as the sky is up above know that some of these leaders have the blood of innocent Kenyans in their hands. These 'leaders' sincerely deserve their day in court.
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