•Friday, November 03, 2006
how times change. or is it people. its true that the only constant thing in change is change itself. president mwai kibaki is in china while his main political opponent, raila odinga is in the us of a delivering speeches about political liberation in kenya. at face value, nothing looks odd. until history knocks the door and you realize that raila was considered more leftist (opposed to "us of a" ideological thinking) and kibaki has been an advocate of capitalism all through. no wonder he lashes out at people who welcome him at trading centres whenever he is in the countryside telling them they are supposed to be in the farms and not waiting for him to give them handouts.
a story is told of how kibaki and lucy went for a meet-the-people tour of his constituency. people quickly gathered around the dispensary he was opening because no word had been sent out that the mp cum president is in the village. kibaki was mad at the gathering and told them to go back to their shambas and pick tea. lucy spoilt herself by telling all the kids to make a queue and greet the 'grandmother'. did 'grandmother' have anything for the kids? no! they were supposed to be at school enjoying the benefits of free primary education.
kibaki is looking for budget reliance and condition-free foreign technological help from china while raila is busy telling the us world of how kenya is at 'an all-time low'. i totally disagree with him. raila is respectable and an influential politician in kenya who cannot be wished away. he is to be admired for his opposition energy of keeping the government of the day in check something that kanu, the official opposition has failed. however, in a bid to "expose" the government, he is leaving a trail of bad, very bad impressions. the fact is, kenya under kibaki is not at an all-time low. fullstop. as for the evidence, it will make this post too long. kibaki has failed severally, but kenya is much better under him than any other time i can or any other kenyan can relate with. it can be better, and that should be raila's selling point and campaign strategy.
the narc experience has taught all and sundry that kibaki is not a 'general kiguoya' as earlier perceived. he is a shrewd and mean politician, in a class of his own. were it not for his health problems, i am sure he would always be a first among equals in this dispensation. i remember kalonzo musyoka, the most preferred next president, declaring that 2006 will be an election year early this year. he misjudged the times greatly.
actually the first paragraph of this post should not be interpreted that raila is the main political opponent to kibaki, kalonzo is. nevertheless it depends on how kalonzo plays his cards. he allowed raila to hijack his presidential bid and he will have to play second fiddle to raila in odm. kalonzo presidential bid is a paradox in itself. is raila electable? that is another paradox. as for uhuru, the uhuru project is another nyayo white elephant for now. but he has a future after kibaki. why? that brings me to another paradox. the tribal card paradox.
of late, there has been accusations and counter accusations of tribalism. kibaki government is being accused by the opposition of fueling tribalism to an all time high. reason? appointments to crucial positions are tribally done and not by merit. the opposition (read odmk) is on the other hand also being accused of nurturing tribalism. why? because it is a conglomerate of tribally-aligned "chiefs". these chiefs have declared their presidential bids in order to woo their tribes to the movement in the hope that their son will ascend to the highest office in the land. how many tribes are represented in the government? the accusers sees all but one dominates, the accused sees all. how many tribes are represented in the odmk movement? "all" says the accused. "all but one dominates" says the accusers. where do i stand? thats another paradox.
the kenya certificate of secondary education exam for 2006 has been marred by allegations of massive sale of exam papers before a paper is sat. the university lecturers who teach where these kids want to go are on strike demanding a massive six hundred per cent pay increase. as a result most public universities have closed down. the exam kids must be reacting to the joke of the year made elsewhere. they now know education matters and it saves skin to make an effort to be smart. by the way, is there a hall of fame for jokes, quotes and speeches. definitely this should be there:
"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well.
a story is told of how kibaki and lucy went for a meet-the-people tour of his constituency. people quickly gathered around the dispensary he was opening because no word had been sent out that the mp cum president is in the village. kibaki was mad at the gathering and told them to go back to their shambas and pick tea. lucy spoilt herself by telling all the kids to make a queue and greet the 'grandmother'. did 'grandmother' have anything for the kids? no! they were supposed to be at school enjoying the benefits of free primary education.
kibaki is looking for budget reliance and condition-free foreign technological help from china while raila is busy telling the us world of how kenya is at 'an all-time low'. i totally disagree with him. raila is respectable and an influential politician in kenya who cannot be wished away. he is to be admired for his opposition energy of keeping the government of the day in check something that kanu, the official opposition has failed. however, in a bid to "expose" the government, he is leaving a trail of bad, very bad impressions. the fact is, kenya under kibaki is not at an all-time low. fullstop. as for the evidence, it will make this post too long. kibaki has failed severally, but kenya is much better under him than any other time i can or any other kenyan can relate with. it can be better, and that should be raila's selling point and campaign strategy.
the narc experience has taught all and sundry that kibaki is not a 'general kiguoya' as earlier perceived. he is a shrewd and mean politician, in a class of his own. were it not for his health problems, i am sure he would always be a first among equals in this dispensation. i remember kalonzo musyoka, the most preferred next president, declaring that 2006 will be an election year early this year. he misjudged the times greatly.
actually the first paragraph of this post should not be interpreted that raila is the main political opponent to kibaki, kalonzo is. nevertheless it depends on how kalonzo plays his cards. he allowed raila to hijack his presidential bid and he will have to play second fiddle to raila in odm. kalonzo presidential bid is a paradox in itself. is raila electable? that is another paradox. as for uhuru, the uhuru project is another nyayo white elephant for now. but he has a future after kibaki. why? that brings me to another paradox. the tribal card paradox.
of late, there has been accusations and counter accusations of tribalism. kibaki government is being accused by the opposition of fueling tribalism to an all time high. reason? appointments to crucial positions are tribally done and not by merit. the opposition (read odmk) is on the other hand also being accused of nurturing tribalism. why? because it is a conglomerate of tribally-aligned "chiefs". these chiefs have declared their presidential bids in order to woo their tribes to the movement in the hope that their son will ascend to the highest office in the land. how many tribes are represented in the government? the accusers sees all but one dominates, the accused sees all. how many tribes are represented in the odmk movement? "all" says the accused. "all but one dominates" says the accusers. where do i stand? thats another paradox.
the kenya certificate of secondary education exam for 2006 has been marred by allegations of massive sale of exam papers before a paper is sat. the university lecturers who teach where these kids want to go are on strike demanding a massive six hundred per cent pay increase. as a result most public universities have closed down. the exam kids must be reacting to the joke of the year made elsewhere. they now know education matters and it saves skin to make an effort to be smart. by the way, is there a hall of fame for jokes, quotes and speeches. definitely this should be there:
"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well.
"If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
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3 comments:
Yeah! We live in a country of contradictions. Remember weka tyre ... gari ipite? Also The Armenian Brothers saga: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewPoetry.asp?AuthorID=39378 ... and the list goes on. I quote the late 2Pac saying that politicians are hypocrites.
The UASU lecturers strike cost me a priceless 5 months in 2004. The KNUT strike affected me twice while in high school, almost occasioning postponement of our KCSE exams in 1998.
As I write this, some dudes are being paid hefty salaries and allowances (starting with MPs) while minimum wage guys sweat their butts for these fatcats. Meanwhile, the overwhelming supply of graduates enables employers to retain guys in eternal internship, but paying them peanuts. After extended probation, these guys have their contracts terminated only to have other desperate 'workplace rookies' take their place. The few who manage to get real jobs earn a pittance, only adequate for sustaining life.
The joke from which I get the following candid excerpt epitomizes Kenya. ..."When management is screwing the working class, the government is sound asleep, the people are being ignored and the future is full of shit."
On a positive note, Kenyans have embraced the investing culture (but not as enthusiastically as their LOVE for barley). Young adults are also gutukaing bigtime. Some of my buddies have actually invited their bosses to the boardroom to do a Donald Trump on them. Thankfully, 'The Apprentice' doesn't have a 'Please Dont Try This at Home (or office)' advisory.
This is Kenya. We enjoyed Kalamashaka's music. We danced to Mashifta's beats and parodied Gidigidi & Majimaji's tracks. But didn't we miss the embedded messages? Where and when did we lose track? Are there any Golden Men left among us?
We all need to look back and possibly retrace our steps. What say you?
The difference between rail and kibaki is that
kibaki comes back from china with 6 billion worth of goodies for kenyans
raila comes back from the states with a picture of obama
maenwhile Kenya is enjoying significant economic growth. President Mwai Kibaki’s slogan and appeal for hard work seems to be yielding fruits finally.
His rallying call has remained 4 years down the road after his election ? a working nation, as he amplified it recently at Uhuru Park, Nairobi during Kenyatta Day celebrations.
This year economic growth hit a record 5.8 per cent, up from 4.9 per cent last year and the highest for more than a decade. There are predictions that next year will even be better.
Last year’s performance would have been even higher had it not been for the serious draught and famine that hit the country. Thirty seven out of seventy two districts were affected, with those in the northern part being hit the worst.
There had been fears of water and power rationing since water levels had reduced so much but fortunately, the government has taken enough precaution and the effects have been largely absorbed without much economic causalities.
The economy withstood the challenge. The government’s election promise of creating more than half a million jobs per year has almost achieved. More than four hundred thousand jobs were created last year. Most of these, however, were in the informal sector.
Tourism marked the highest growth of more than 13 per cent. Enormous campaign to market Kenya in the west takes credit for this. Impact of travel ban to East Africa by USA and Britain has finally fizzled out and the sector has recovered tremendously.
Others include communication 8.3 per cent, building and construction 7.2 per cent, and agriculture and forestry 6.7 per cent .Wholesale and retail trade grew with 6.4 per cent while manufacturing hit a 5 per cent increase.
Mobile telephony and road transport was among the leading employment sector. There was also a significant growth in jua kali sector.
In education, more than 200, 000 students enrolled at schools and colleges but teacher numbers decreased by 7300 owing to resignation, sacking or retirement. There has not been sufficient replacement of teachers when they leave the profession.
Community policing, a joint police and public engagement to eradicate criminals, saw a decline in crime in the past year. The ministry of health was involved in a successful children immunization programme.
Cost of retro-viral drugs went down and free malaria drugs were availed in government hospitals. Trade with East African countries has also increased, taking more than a half of all the exports to Africa.
The government reduced borrowing from public.
This availed more cash to the people since banks could afford loans to more people. Banking and insurance got a boost from this.
The Kenya revenue authority has been very aggressive in tax collection, gathering more money than ever before.
This years government budget, is 95 per cent funded by local taxes, and the government will only need 5 per cent supplementary aid from the donors. Taxes for cigarettes have risen, following the ban of tobacco smoking.
The government prohibited smoking in all public places, including hospitals, learning institutions and public transport.
The ban has temporarily been put on hold by the High Court, following application by tobacco manufacturing companies.
They claimed there was no adequate notice given and if the law came to force they would incur huge loses. They asked to be allowed to first dispose off the stock already in their warehouses.
With the ongoing rains agriculture is bound to do far better this year. Kenya meat commission will be operational this month, with slaughter capacity of more than a thousand cattle a day.
This is certainly going to provide meat market for cattle keepers who have suffered immensely since its collapse more than fifteen years ago. Revival of Kenya Creameries Co-operative, the giant milk market, lifted the earnings and economy of dairy farmers immensely.
Prospects of finding oil in the north coastal town of lamu, and the business opportunities that Southern Sudan region provides will attract more investors in the country.
hi peter, kenya is a country of contradictions. just like most others i guess. i wonder whether there is the soberness of learning from past mistakes or retracing steps. our leaders aren't giving us a break to reflect and chart a way forward. as for the "gutukaing" youths, iam not sure the campaign is bearing fruit especially since there is a lot of inconsistency involved. the lecturers demand are unrealistic, a 100% would do, but 600% is ridiculous, its unsustainable.
@anon, good report on kenya's progress. honestly you sound like the govt's spokesman. have no problem with that. everyone should know the positives of the current government as much as the negatives. in my view, i am better off currently than i was four years ago. if kibaki has something to do with that, thank god for him.