Category Archives: Education

USA: Not learning from mistakes

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From: Chuck Watts

Sad but true. We are not learning from our mistakes.

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House Democrats Accept GOP Frame On Taxes

The Democratic Campaign Committee sent me a message this afternoon entitled DISASTER. The message: “Did you see Al Gore’s message? We only have a few hours left before tonight’s midnight FEC deadline…”

Groan. Once again, the Democratic Party trashes its credibility by treating liberal activists like nothing more than a crowd of marks, just waiting to be conned. There is no midnight FEC deadline. People will be just as able to donate to the Democrats on August 1st as they are today on July 31st. The DCCC’s message is using a cheap trick, well known to hucksters selling gizmos on New Jersey boardwalks: Create a false sense of urgency with a limited time offer, and suckers will start shelling out their money before their rational minds can catch on to the gimmick.

. . .
[cartoon image;] “If I could just talk llike an elephant, maybe they wouild let me join the circus”, said the donkey.

. . .

Read rest of cited article by jclifford;
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2012/07/31/house-democrats-accept-gop-frame-on-taxes/

USA: Occupy Compassion In City Council, Wilmington, OH

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From: Chuck Watts

For your consideration. I look forward to your comments at the blog.

http://empathysurplus.com/2012/08/02/occupy-compassion-in-city-council-wilmington-oh/

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Caring citizens communicating American values are the solution to expanding liberty and justice for all,

Chuck Watts, Co-Founder
Empathy Surplus Project – 2012 Theme: Occupy Compassion
Empathy Surplus Project Twitter Page
Empathy Surplus Project Facebook Page
Empathy Surplus Project Google+ Page
Sign the Charter for Compassion
937-725-4317

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Posted on August 2, 2012

Occupy Compassion In City Council, Wilmington, OH

By Chuck Watts and Gary Evans

Submitted to the Wilmington News Journal, Wilmington, OH, 08/02/2012

As co-founders of the Empathy Surplus Project, we are two businessmen committed to the nation’s founders’ simple idea: We the People are stronger, freer, smarter, more prosperous, more effective, and better able to live our individual lives when public government fosters empathy and responsibility for self and others.

This American ideal of a well-functioning democracy, where we protect and empower each other, is the moral mission of The Public. Ethical businesses protect and expand The Public, making decent lives and profits possible. So, how do we expand liberal markets that are open to all and broaden prosperity?

. . .

http://empathysurplus.com/2012/08/02/occupy-compassion-in-city-council-wilmington-oh/

Kenyan technician dies mysteriously in Juba South Sudan

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo

Francis Ombuor Osumba a Kenyan working a a technician in Juba South Sudan has died mysteriously, according t faint information reaching his family back home in Rangwe constituency, Homa-Bay County ,the decease died early last week after short illness.

The south Sudan were reported as treating the Kenyan death a police case, and were waiting for a post-mortem examination to be performed before the active investigation to unearth the cause of his death started.

Prior to moving to the South Sudan a couple of years ago,Mr Osumba who is in his early 40s had worked as an instructor/lecturer at the Eldoret Polytechnic before he was transferred to Kitale Polytechnic I the same capacity. He had also worked briefly at the Kisumu based Ramogi Institute Advanced Technology .{RIAT}.near Asumbi Teachers Training College in Rangwe constituency, within Homa-Bay County and was the son of a prominent businessman in Rangwe Mr Elly Osumba Ombuor.

According to very faint information reaching his family, Mr Osumba died on Monday last week. A neighbor when his return to the building which they were sharing as neighbors late in the afternoon, the neighbor found the decease had already died while seated on a sofa-seat.

Kenyan friends, neighbors and relatives living Juba had a hard tem akin the tentative arrangement to fly the body from Juba to Nairobi and hen to Kisumu this Monday, but could ill-afford the enormous of flying the body home, which they reported to be was so exorbitant and estimated to be around Kshs 112,000and have since opted to bring the body home by road via Uganda and exercise which could take three or four more days before the body arrives at home.

The deceased s the son-in-law of the Kisumu based veteran journalist Leo Odera Omolo. Together with Mr.Omolo’s daughter Rebecca Atieno the couple were blessed wit four young sos all attending a primary school in heir rural home in Rangwe while Rebecca is a trader at Rapogi Market in Uriri distict, Migori County

Ends

KENYA: NYANZA PPO ASKED TO INTERVENE AND HAVE TEACHERS ARRESTED.

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By Our Reporter

Teachers drawn from Kisumu and adjacent areas are calling upon Nyanza Provincial Police Officer John Njue Njagi and his CID boss Joseph Mugwanja to urgently intervene and have officials of Mwalimu Teachers Sacco led by a teacher based at Kisumu Girls High School Dan Omotto, Sande Ochieng’ who teaches at Bar Sec School and Mr.Ochillo who is teaching at Kisumu Boys High School to be arrested and arraigned in court after they fraudulently obtained money from them under the guise of availing plots for them which has not been the case.

The agitated teachers who were addressing the press in Kisumu says that despite having made formal complaints to the Kisumu District Criminal Investigations Office nothing has been done despite recording statements and availing to the officers concerned all that is required in the complaints.

“We paid some money so that we buy the plots from the said Mwalimu Saccio housing project only for Sande,Ochhillo, Omotto and others to say that those were they commissions and we need to pay m0oney again so that we are given the plots, if this is not fraud then for heaven’s sake what is it” the teachers lamented.

They also claim that the said officials are using their TSC numbers without their knowledge and approval to bring people who are not employees of TSC to disguise as teachers so that they rip them off.

“We have recorded statements with the police and the authorities concerned should they not take actions against these officials then we will not be left with any option except to seek the help of the Police Commissioner” they added.

Contacted for comment Mr. Ochillo rubbished the allegations and said anybody who has complaints should bring them to the office where they began “as going to the office will not help them much”.

An investigative police officer based at the Kisumu CID office who never wanted his name mentioned said that they have forwarded their recommendations to their bosses and is wondering why the said officials have not been charged in a court of law since there are enough and sufficient evidence to charge them.

“We investigate and give recommendations which we have so far done, more information and details about the issue please consult our bosses” he added before hanging up

Kenya: Rio+20- The issues 20 years ago

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From: odhiambo okecth

In his article appearing in the Daily Nation of today- the 21st Day of June 2012, Prof Jeffrey D Sachs gives a scathing analysis of the paralysis on decision making and action as the embodiments of conferencing.

He quotes the authoritative Scientific Nature Magazine as having summed up the implementation of the 1st Rio Conferencing on the 3 Treaties by giving the following grades;

Climate Change- F meaning, Fail
Biological Diversity- F meaning Fail
Combating Desertification- F meaning Fail.
Kenyans join in a Clean-up Campaign during the World Environment Day celebrations on 5th June 2012

Now, this is real damning, and yet, 20 years down the line, having achieved Zero with the first Rio Conference, travelers and journeymen are once again gathered at Rio to talk about what they talked about 20 years ago.

In his words, Prof Sachs says- Rio has failed to give humanity the language to discuss our own survival. And I absolutely agree with him.

You will all remember that Prof Sachs was the architect of the failed Structural Adjustment Programmes that were then touted as the panacea to our survival in the Third World. The SAPs brought with it poverty of unmitigated proportion to a people who had food in abundance before. We compromised our going to the gardens and tilling our lands for sustainable food outputs just because somebody came along with some experiments in the form of SAPs. And our Government forsook the people and embraced such an experiment.

Before the SAPs were introduced, going to school was a big relief to parents. School fee was only Kshs 20.00 per Term and this was paid at the Chiefs Camp. Once you paid this, you were assured of Text Books in Class and you would be given Exercise Books for Free.

But when SAPs were introduced, journeymen stepped in. Our Education Carriculum was defecated upon and the end result in the mass confusion we still have upto now. Pupils even at Class One are being instructed with books that one might be mistaken are for Graduate Class. I shudder with shame when I take my small Class 2 daughter to school. She has a huge School Bag full of books, yet, when I was in Class Two, I only used to have a Slate.

SAPs messed our Health Institutions and everyone in Kenya is paying dearly for this failed experiment. We used to have Doctors and medicine in our Hospitals before and medication was fairly free. But with the advent of SAPs, we introduced cost sharing and with cost sharing, Doctors started also sharing the little the Government provided with their Private Clinics. The end result is the mess we have found ourselves saddled in.

In all, when Prof Jeffrey D Sachs acknowledges that something is a failure, we must all sit upright and listen, for the man himself has been the epitome of failure for the Third World. he is a Professor of Economics, and I want to believe that SAPs must have been his dissertation. Whoever supervised this works for him enjoins him in condemning the same humanity to unmitigated suffering.

This is why even as I agree with his conclusions, I find in him a paradox of a human being. He concludes thus; Just as the Millenium Development Goals opened our eyes to extreme poverty and promoted unprecedented global action to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the SDGs- meaning Structural Development Goals- can open the eyes of todays youth to climate change, biodiversity loss and the disaster of desertification.

We have known Countries such as Israel who are not so conference savvy, yet, they have managed to make use of their deserts to full agricultural potentials.

No one will Clean Kenya for us. It must be our responsibility.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Executive Director,

The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC
Tel; 0724 365 557,
Blogspot; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com

The Clean Kenya Campaign; Website-www.kcdnkenya.org

Kenyan middle classes must demand accountability from politicians

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From: dick aduonga

Kenya is the largest economy in the East African trading block. A successful economy largely depends on an educated and innovative middle class in not only a predictable but equally progressive political environment.

At this moment in our political development Kenya needs men and women of unfailing characters whose convictions cannot be contaminated by the hostility of the state as they pursue national ideals beneficial to the national good of the nation. These young but assertive middle class generation need to be the driving force behind the reforms by repelling anti-reformist, inward looking forces.

A recent survey showed that a greater majority of Kenyans are not satisfied with the performance of key national institutions and individual politicians. It also noted that while the public have fully embraced the changes as anticipated by the new constitution, our politicians have not moved at the same speed with the public and are still taking voters for granted.

Today there are more graduates from institutions of higher learning than in the past three decades and yet some politicians have not taken notice. A growing educated middle class are self confident and are ready to fight for fairness and equity while ensuring justice prevails to all irrespective of one’s status in society.

Since this is an electoral period, the middle classes must have the courage without fear to demand accountability from all the politicians and others vying for public office. Leaders should be ready and willing to convincingly explain to the voters how they will address key issues such as endemic corruption, unemployment of the youth, inadequacies in education and health.

The struggle continues.
By Dickson Aduonga

Kenya & World: Rio+20

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from: odhiambo okecth
Friends,

Friends of nature, or rather, people who talk about nature and environment are meeting at Rio De Janeiro in an environm
ental conference that has been dubbed Rio+20.

20 years ago, the World met at Rio and looked at several issues that inform the management of our environment. Several issues were discussed, as they will do from tomorrow, and sadly, 20 years down the line, we have nothing to be proud of since then.

Instead, the World had continued to suffer environmental issues.

The status of the World has degenerated. Global warming has increased. The Ozone Layer is being depleted. The Forest Cover is going down across the world. And man has become the biggest threat to our eco-system. Instead of solving our problems, we have come up with this like Carbon Trading and Green Economy.

Instead of addressing our environmental issues, we have opted for the softer options; coining words and phrases that are vacuous.

Our Towns are getting messier and dirtier and our waters are getting more polluted. The air we breath is becoming thin and congested, yet, we are always in conferences discussing these issues.

Our Towns are getting more dustier and yet, these are things we can effectively mitigate without resorting to words and phrases that are only at best left at those conferences.

Just recently, the World converged in Durban in South Africa, still, they were talking about the same same things. Ask anybody what Durban achieved and you will be shocked; nothing. Words and only words.

I am tempted to ask; for how long will we be talking and conferencing? This is a tough question, because, we have many professionals whose forte is to talk and give more talk. They never implement. We get mountains and mountains of lectures on Nature and Environment, and it stops at that.

Take the example of having a Clean Neighbourhood; Do we really need lectures and conferences on having our Towns Clean? We only need to implement. What if we took the moneys earmarked for these kind of conferences and decided to strengthen our implementation agencies?

We will be able to buy many tracks to cart away our garbage. The cost of such conferencing will strengthen our Councils across Kenya and we will employ more personnel to police our Environmental By-laws. We will buy more Skip Loaders, more tractors, more working implements for the enforcing teams, and the teams will be motivated.

But instead, we have chosen the more easier roots; conferencing.

40 years ago, the United Nations Environment Programme was born as a Programme of the UN. This means, it could not get secure programme and sustained funding to address the Environmental concerns of the World. For 40 years, there have been talks about moving the Unep from Nairobi, about upgrading the Unep, about strengthening her status and about all conceivable issues you may imagine.

For 40 years, the world and her leaders have just been talking.

I want to believe, that as these people converge at Rio in what they are calling Rio+20, solutions will come forth and action will follow.

It will be our wish at The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC for Unep to be made a Specialized UN Agency to deal conclusively with matters Environment. A strengthened, upgraded and emboldened Unep will be secure, will have a strong membership that will secure her funding and will work for a sustainable environmental policies across the world.

Her membership at the Security Council of the UN General Assembly will strong and she will have a voice.

Our Leaders often travel the World and I want them to look at us in the eye and tell us if those Towns they visit are as dirty as our Towns. Do those other Towns have mounds of garbage everywhere as our Towns do? Do those Towns have no Water as our Towns do, yet, water is a key necessity to nature.

Do those Towns have pot-holed roads like we do here?

Let Rio+20 be the last of these talking shops. The world is experiencing environmental problems of unmitigated proportions yet, we who have solutions to these issues are only engaged in talking.

Let Rio+20 be the beginning of a structured engagement to re-foresting the world.

Let Rio+20 be the beginning of a pragmatic approach to solving the issue of Solid Waste Management across our Towns.

Let Rio+20 be the beginning of a strengthened Unep, a Unep with the financial ability and power to engage.

Let Rio+20 be the last of these talking shops where people who know the same things gather to share what they all know.

No one will Clean Kenya for us. It must be our responsibility.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Executive Director,

The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC
Tel; 0724 365 557,
Blogspot; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com

The Clean Kenya Campaign; Website-www.kcdnkenya.org

WHY KENYAN YOUTH DON’T CARE

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From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012

When Lady Justice Roselyn Wendoh sentenced a 24-year Kipkemboi Ruto alias Saitoti in Nakuru High Court Tuesday for life imprisonment for murdering 67-year-old, Kamau Kimani Thiong’o at Kamura Village of Timboroa area in the Rift Valley during the post election violence, she assumed this would serve as a lesson for Kenyan youth.
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[2 images]Inset- Kipkemboi Ruto alias Saitoti in the Nakuru High Court on June 12, 2012 during the ruling of a case where he was charged with murder of Kamau Kimani Thiong’o on January 01, 2008 during the post-election violence at Kamura village in Timboroa- a child cries next to her dead mother/ File

What Lady Justice Wendoh and probably some section of Kenyans do not understand about the vast majority of Kenyan youths is that they do not fear death, leave alone life imprisonment.

Kenyan youth have reached the stage that they do not care anymore. Our story yesterday discussed at length how bitter our youths are. When I was trying to protect Willice Onyango, chairperson-the International Youth Council-Kenya from being beaten to death because youths were not given tea during the forum in Nairobi, they said they did not care whether I am a priest and they could kill me as well if I did not behave.

The youths have reached the climax that you talk about God and men or women in color they don’t care. That is why they vowed to continue with violence if the government of Kenya fails to work out policies that can create employment for them.

Unless the government comes with policies that can create more employment for the large number of Kenyans youth who are still languishing in poverty due to luck of unemployment, they will continue with violence as they vowed.

For a very long time Kenyans youths have been sidelined. There are about 750,000 youth who graduate from various tertiary institutions ready to enter the job market every year in vain.

The reason is not that the government is not able to come up with policies that can create employment for the youth, the reason actually is that Kenyan politicians are greedy and self centered and corrupt.

That is why, even though the 8-4-4 system of education was geared to imparting appropriate skills to enhance self-employment for the young, due to the high costs, poverty and lack of facilities, there have been high school dropout rates. Most of the youth either drop out of school or graduate without necessary skills for self-employment. Many girls drop out of school due to pregnancy.

Due to corruption is one of the reasons why country’s training institutions are also either inadequate or lack the essential facilities and technology to prepare students for the challenging market demands.

This can explain why in the early mid 1980’s saw a rapid growth in crime, drug and substance abuse among the youth in Kenya. It is also why alcohol, cigarettes, khat (miraa), and cannabis sativa have remained the most popular abused substances.

Violent criminal attacks, including rape, mugging, armed carjacking and home invasions are increasingly being associated with the youth these days. It explains further why over 50 percent of all the convicted criminals are young people aged between 16 and 25 years.

That is why during the incident, Ruto together with his accomplices did not only kill but also stole cows, three goats and burnt eight houses at the deceased’s homestead. The theft and destruction was valued at Sh850, 000.

Ruto of course is not alone. According to the research by The Kenya Youth Agenda shortly after the post election violence, the findings indicate that youth were responsible for planning 7.32 percent of all incidences of pre-planned violence.

Older perpetrators were responsible for 17.07 percent while the majority of cases were planned jointly. Joint planning accounts for 57.32 percent of all cases while it was difficult to establish responsibility for the remaining cases.

The vast majority of funding for electoral violence came from non-youth sponsors which account for a whooping 60.98 percent compared to youth sponsors at 7.35 percent. Cases of shared sponsorship account for 14.63 percent while the rest came from sources whose age it was difficult to establish.

In execution, the youth were the main actors taking the lead with responsibility for 54.88 percent of all the cases while older people account for only 14.63 percent. Shared responsibility account for 18.29 percent while the remainder of cases it was difficulty to determine who exactly was responsible.

Most of the offences were committed in Rift Valley Province which accounts for 20.62 percent. Western (19.51 percent), Central Province (17.07 percent) and Nyanza (12.20 percent) were the other most violent regions with double digit percentages. The least violent was Coast with only 4.88 percent of all the reported cases.

Another reason why the government won’t come up with policies to create jobs is that most of politicians take the advantage of the youth unemployment to use them for violence.

According to the research, ODM was the most culpable party in perpetrating violence at 46.15 percent. This is almost double that of its main opponents, PNU at 24.07 percent. ODM-K at 3.70 percent was the least offensive while NARC Kenya was more violent at 11.11 percent relative to KANU at 5.56 percent.

That is why in the infamous Nyachae campaign rally of 21st September 2007 at Nyamarambe, the Minister was allegedly actively involved in issuing orders and cheering as the youth shot arrows at his political rivals who included Mr. William Ruto and Mr. Omingo Magara, both national officials of the ODM Party.

The Minister subsequently praised the youth and urged them to continue perpetrating violence against those opposed to him and his presidential candidate, PNU’s Mwai Kibaki. This was a case of violence that was planned and financed by elderly sponsors but executed by youth.

In Webuye constituency at Dina Market on 19th September 2007 a nominated councilor and Mr. Wanduasi personal assistant to then Minister Musikari Kombo, led a gang that attacked a group wearing NARC-Kenya T-shirts.

The gang was allegedly acting in “defense” of FORD-Kenya, which perceived NARC-Kenya proponents as “invaders” of their territory. During the attack, several women (Margaret Nasibwondi Wekesa, Florence K. Wabuke, Carol Njenga, Mary Matunda, Florence Shedacha, and Finike Imbuka) sustained serious injuries all over their bodies after the offending gang stripped them naked at the instruction of the two young men.

This was a case of an incidence planned and executed by youth. It is however alleged that the planners had the tacit approval of their elderly employers. It is also a case of gender-based electoral violence perpetrated by young people against women at the behest of gerontocrats.

The survey shows that the weapons of choice for young people involved in the fights were stones , machetes, walking sticks, clubs, bows and arrows, spears, iron rods and guns in that order. Damage caused ranged from inflicting of serious injuries, maimings and death.

In North Imenti constituency, Ms. Flora Tera was brutally assaulted and humiliated by youth hired by an elderly politician.

In Webuye constituency, several women were stripped naked for wearing NARC-K T-shirts.

In the first case in Nairobi, Ms. Orie Rogo Manduli was grievously assaulted in intra-party violence involving PNU.

In the second Nairobi case, a civic candidate within the city’s Embakasi constituency, Ms. Aisha Ali, was assaulted in Dandora. All the incidents resulted in the victims getting severely injured and being hospitalized.

In Vihiga constituency, one of the candidates’ agents led a group of young men in tearing down posters of a rival candidate in the same party. The said agent told the group of young men to “protect” a particular section of the constituency from the rival candidate as it was their candidate’s “zone” that no one else should touch.

On 28th September, 2007 in Emuhaya, Mr. Laban Mengo, a parliamentary candidate in the constituency publicly asked the youth in his village to ensure that on polling day, anyone who was not from that village does not cast their vote at the village primary school (polling centre) regardless of whether such would-be voters are registered at this polling centre.

In Emuhaya constituency, some local youth leaders ordered other youth to lynch or stone anyone who asks for their voters’ card numbers to be entered in nomination application forms even though it was a requirement for all candidates to demonstrate voter support of their candidature, alleging that this amounted to vote buying.

Hate speech and other forms of harassment were also directed towards presidential candidates. In one incident in Western Province, a group of rowdy youth heckled and shouted down the ODM Kenya Presidential candidate Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka and his running mate Hon. Julia Ojiambo marring their campaign efforts. Monitors reports indicate that the incident was not entirely spontaneous and unplanned.

In Emuhaya constituency, a relatively young PNU parliamentary aspirant, Mr. Sikalo Ochiel, reportedly declared at a public meeting attended mostly by young people that on

of his rivals Mr. Kenneth Marende of ODM was supporting Hon. Raila Odinga because he had sold part of the Bunyore territory (Maseno) to the Luos, and further asked people to be prepared to “…push the Provincial boundary back to Lela in Luo land..” under his leadership.

The youths were also used to attend a meeting with President Mwai Kibaki ahead of the 2007 general elections and who ICC judges said were members of the mungiki outlawed gang were made public Friday.

Among those named is one Maina Kangethe who is named in ICC documents as Maina Kangethe aka Diambo who is said to have been among the 33 people who attended the meeting.

The names were released by commissioner of police Mathew Iteere after ICC judges accepted the prosecution assertion that President Mwai Kibaki was present at a meeting with Mungiki leaders at State House in November 26, 2007.

The judges said President Kibaki sent a witness statement to the ICC in September 2011 admitting that he held a meeting with youth on that day but denying the presence of Mungiki.

The police boss said the group went to State House to declare their support to Kibaki and “listen to what he had for them”.

He said it is only Kibaki and former head of public service Francis Muthaura who were present at the meeting.

The groups which attended the meeting according to Iteere who served as the commandant of the presidential escort unit at State House before he was promoted to be the commandant of GSU in June 2006 included Warembo Na Kibaki, Vijana na Kibaki, Kipya Youth Interparties, PNU Youth Alliance, Kanu Youth, Kawa, Oka, which Diambo belonged and Hawkers.

Iteere tabled the following names:

Warembo na Kibaki
Martha Wangare
Naisiae Karia
Beryl Oyier
Lydia Martha
Vijana na Kibaki
Patrick Ngatia
Joseph Kioko
Sakaja Johnstone
Job Wamalwa
Andrew Wahahiu
Thomas Mbewa
Jonathan Katiku

Kipya Youth Interparties

Yvone Khamati
Leon Ndubai
James Mathenge
Jack Wamboka
Gor Semilango

PNU Youth Alliance

Patrick Kokonya
George Nyongesa
Ken Orengo

Kanu Youth

Badi Ali
Kamau Mugo

Kenya Artists Welfare Association (Kawa)

James Munene
Nahashon Maina
Mary Githinji
Godfrey Machira

Operation Kibaki Again (OKA)

Godwini Kamau
Maina Kangethe
Anthony Kamau

Hawkers

Hosiah Mwangi
Amos Kamande
Nelson Githaiga
Mwende Mwinzi
Leeh Nyachae

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

World: My Speech to the Finance Graduates

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From: Yona Maro

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Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com
Blogu ya Habari na Picha www.patahabari.blogspot.com

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By Robert J. Shiller, 30 May 2012

NEW HAVEN – At this time of year, at graduation ceremonies in America and elsewhere, those about to leave university often hear some final words of advice before receiving their diplomas. To those interested in pursuing careers in finance – or related careers in insurance, accounting, auditing, law, or corporate management – I submit the following address:

Best of luck to you as you leave the academy for your chosen professions in finance. Over the course of your careers, Wall Street and its kindred institutions will need you. Your training in financial theory, economics, mathematics, and statistics will serve you well. But your lessons in history, philosophy, and literature will be just as important, because it is vital not only that you have the right tools, but also that you never lose sight of the purposes and overriding social goals of finance.

Unless you have been studying at the bottom of the ocean, you know that the financial sector has come under severe criticism – much of it justified – for thrusting the world economy into its worst crisis since the Great Depression. And you need only check in with some of your classmates who have populated the Occupy movements around the world to sense the widespread resentment of financiers and the top 1% of income earners to whom they largely cater (and often belong).

While some of this criticism may be over-stated or misplaced, it nonetheless underscores the need to reform financial institutions and practices. Finance has long been central to thriving market democracies, which is why its current problems need to be addressed. With your improved sense of our interconnectedness and diverse needs, you can do that. Indeed, it is the real professional challenge ahead of you, and you should embrace it as an opportunity.

Young finance professionals need to familiarize themselves with the history of banking, and recognize that it is at its best when it serves ever-broadening spheres of society. Here, the savings-bank movement in the United Kingdom and Europe in the nineteenth century, and the microfinance movement pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in the twentieth century, comes to mind. Today, the best way forward is to update financial and communications technology to offer a full array of enlightened banking services to the lower middle class and the poor.

Graduates going into mortgage banking are faced with a different, but equally vital, challenge: to design new, more flexible loans that will better help homeowners to weather the kind of economic turbulence that has buried millions of people today in debt.

Young investment bankers, for their part, have a great opportunity to devise more participatory forms of venture capital – embodied in the new crowd-funding Web sites – to spur the growth of innovative new small businesses. Meanwhile, opportunities will abound for rookie insurance professionals to devise new ways to hedge risks that real people worry about, and that really matter – those involving their jobs, livelihoods, and home values.

Beyond investment banks and brokerage houses, modern finance has a public and governmental dimension, which clearly needs reinventing in the wake of the recent financial crisis. Setting the rules of the game for a robust, socially useful financial sector has never been more important. Recent graduates are needed in legislative and administrative agencies to analyze the legal infrastructure of finance, and regulate it so that it produces the greatest results for society.

A new generation of political leaders needs to understand the importance of financial literacy and find ways to supply citizens with the legal and financial advice that they need. Meanwhile, economic policymakers face the great challenge of designing new financial institutions, such as pension systems and public entitlements based on the solid grounding of intergenerational risk-sharing.

Those of you deciding to pursue careers as economists and finance scholars need to develop a better understanding of asset bubbles – and better ways to communicate this understanding to the finance profession and to the public. As much as Wall Street had a hand in the current crisis, it began as a broadly held belief that housing prices could not fall – a belief that fueled a full-blown social contagion. Learning how to spot such bubbles and deal with them before they infect entire economies will be a major challenge for the next generation of finance scholars.

Equipped with sophisticated financial ideas ranging from the capital asset pricing model to intricate options-pricing formulas, you are certainly and justifiably interested in building materially rewarding careers. There is no shame in this, and your financial success will reflect to a large degree your effectiveness in producing strong results for the firms that employ you. But, however imperceptibly, the rewards for success on Wall Street, and in finance more generally, are changing, just as the definition of finance must change if is to reclaim its stature in society and the trust of citizens and leaders.

Finance, at its best, does not merely manage risk, but also acts as the steward of society’s assets and an advocate of its deepest goals. Beyond compensation, the next generation of finance professionals will be paid its truest rewards in the satisfaction that comes with the gains made in democratizing finance – extending its benefits into corners of society where they are most needed. This is a new challenge for a new generation, and will require all of the imagination and skill that you can bring to bear.

Good luck in reinventing finance. The world needs you to succeed.

MEDIA VIOLATIONS IN MALI.

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By Agwanda Saye in Bamako Mali

Amid continuing political instability following a rebel takeover in the north and a military coup in the capital in March, Reporters Without Borders has compiled the following summary of media freedom violations in Mali during the past three weeks.

“Chaos has reigned in the north since March, but the persistence of media freedom violations in the south, especially the capital, Bamako, is intolerable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It shows that the 22 March coup has overturned Mali’s status as a regional model of respect for freedom of information. The authorities can no longer be counted on to let the media operate freely. The list of violations of journalists’ rights keeps on growing.”

Journalist’s unexplained disappearance

Babi Ahbi, the editor of the Bamako-based periodical Agora, has been missing since 12 May. His family, friends and colleagues are all very concerned by his sudden disappearance at a time of threats to media personnel. No one has so far ventured any theory to explain how he vanished.

“The police must shed light on this journalist’s disturbing disappearance and they must not rule out the possibility that it is linked to his work,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Whether he has been kidnapped, imprisoned or killed, his family and colleagues have a right to know the facts.”

Some sources told Reporters Without Borders that Ahbi supported “the people in the north of Mali,” where an armed group has proclaimed a breakaway state.

Intelligence officers after journalists’ sources

State Security officers arrested Birama Fall, the editor of the bi-weekly Le Prétoire, at his newspaper at around midday on 12 May, and questioned him at State Security headquarters for four hours before letting him go.

They interrogated him about a phone conversation with a former government minister who had told him that the bodies of many “Red Beret” participants in a failed counter-coup on 30 April were buried in a mass grave in Diago, a few kilometres outside Bamako. The former minister gave Fall its alleged location but Fall had refused to publish the information because he could not confirm it.

Saouti Haïdara, the editor of the privately-owned daily L’Indépendant, was briefly arrested by three State Security officers on 16 May and was given the same treatment as his colleague from Le Prétoire.

Haïdara was interrogated about a “leaflet-style” article he had published the previous week advising Malians to stay at home or to avoid public and military buildings because of the threat of bombings or armed attacks by “a certain Captain Touré.” The intelligence officers wanted to know who his source was.

“These two arrests show that phones are being tapped, which is a serious violation of journalists’ rights,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Illegal phone tapping combined with interrogation endangers journalists and their sources and can seriously impact the media’s ability to provide the public with news and information.”

Attack on radio station

Members of the Association of Malian Pupils and Students (AEEM) attacked Radio Kayira in the central city of Koutiala on 30 April, damaging its premises and stealing equipment but failing in a bid to set it on fire because the police intervened. The station’s owner, parliamentarian Oumar Mariko, put the losses at 3.2 million euros.

The students carried out the attack because they suspect that Mariko was behind an attempt to murder AEEM leader Hamadoun Traoré on the night of 22 April, and they are still threatening to attack the Radio Kayira branches in Bamako and Niolo.

“Without getting into political disputes, we urge the two parties to open a dialogue so that media premises can be spared this kind of violence,” Reporters Without Borders said. “At this time of political unrest, it is vital that the media should be able to do their job of reporting the news in a professional and impartial manner.”

Kenya: Green Economy; does it include you?

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From: odhiambo okecth

Friends,

This is the theme of The World Environment Day this year. And we at The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC are happy to be associated with this day.

As we celebrate The World Environment Day on the 5th June 2012, we want to invite Kenyans to action. In partnership with the City Council of Nairobi, the Provincial Administration Nairobi, the Provincial Environment Officer Nairobi- Nema, the Kenya Police Force Nairobi, the Traffic Department of the Police Force Nairobi, the Media, and many more Friends of TCKC, we will celebrate this day in style.

We all know how Jogoo Road and Landhies Roads are, and we also know that we have been depositing our garbage by these two Roads for some while. In line with our Constitution, we are mobilizing the participation of as many as 30,000 Nairobians to join us on the 5th June at 7.00am to help clean these two roads, remove the piled up garbage, and put a firm stop to this dumping.

Waste is wealth and many of us know this.

The Clean Kenya Campaign

We are in discussions which are going to turn the process of waste management into something very exciting for Kenyans. Besides being a source of employment and economic gains, waste management is the next big thing for this country.

As soon as we are through with this day, and in partnership with the City Council of Nairobi, the Provincial Environment Office, Kepsa and other players, we are going to engage with all waste collectors in Nairobi to help streamline the business of waste in Nairobi and by extension, across Kenya. We are going to start a pilot process on waste management that will involve some select estates, the hospitality industry and our markets.

We have men and women in Public Service who are well trained in the various aspects of waste management and conversion, and we also have corporates who convert waste into productive materials, gas, energy and biomass. We want to engage all those whose inputs will make us start fighting for our personal waste.

At The Clean Kenya Campaign, we want Kenyans to start being mean with their waste produce because, it is going to give them some good money. We will be inviting Kenyans to separate their waste at source as we move the process to the next level.

This is a process that cannot be left to the Government alone. We must all come in and be part of this Transformative Process that is going to turn Kenya around.

One thing is, we have never talked about what we cannot deliver, and now that we have re-loaded and energized The Clean Kenya Campaign, we are happy that we are equal to the task ahead.

We are happy with the support and partnership from the City Council of Nairobi, the other Councils across Kenya, and the Central Government in this Journey of Hope across Kenya. We are more happy with the many Kenyans who have always joined with us in The Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaigns across Kenya.

We have one assurance for all of you; the time is now and we are equal to the task.

To this extent, it is my pleasure to invite you all to join with us on the 5th June 2012 across the entire stretch of Jogoo and Landhies Roads at 7.00am for this Massive Clean-up ever seen anywhere in the World. We are negotiating with our Friends in the Media to have some live transmissions of this historic event; 30,000 people joining hands for a worthy course!

We are inviting the Green Army from the legendary Gor Mahia- Kogalo Fans, where are you?

We are inviting the indomitable Leopards- Ingwe- Mko wapi?

We are inviting the Sofa Paka Team. Where are you? The Brewers? I do not know how you call yourselves!

We are inviting all our Political Parties- PNU, ODM, Wiper, UDF, TNA, URP, KANU, Narc, Nark Kenya- where are you guys with all your Women and Youth Leagues?

And we are inviting all our Political Leaders. It is time we made Kenya Clean!

Kenya is Marwa and making her Clean is our Responsibility!

Given the large numbers that we will be hosting on this day, we want to invite each and every volunteer who will join us to come with either a spade or a rake. The Council will not be in a position to give all of us working tools.

This is our Country. This is Kenya. And we must join in making her Clean. Ama?

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Executive Director,
The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC,
Tel; 0724 365 557,
Website; www.kcdnkenya.org
Blogspot; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com

The Clean Kenya Campaign; www.kcdnkenya.org
An Initiative of the KCDN Kenya

Where do good ideas come from?

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From: Yona Maro

One of our most innovative, popular thinkers takes on-in exhilarating style-one of our key questions: Where do good ideas come from?

With Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson pairs the insight of his bestselling Everything Bad Is Good for You and the dazzling erudition of The Ghost Map and The Invention of Air to address an urgent and universal question: What sparks the flash of brilliance? How does groundbreaking innovation happen? Answering in his infectious, culturally omnivorous style, using his fluency in fields from neurobiology to popular culture, Johnson provides the complete, exciting, and encouraging story of how we generate the ideas that push our careers, our lives, our society, and our culture forward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NugRZGDbPFU

—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

USA: It’s making them nervous

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Forwarded by Octimotor:

From: Justin Ruben, MoveOn.org Political Action
Date: Tue, May 22, 2012 at 3:22 PM
Subject: It’s making them nervous

Dear Reader:

What’s the last thing we want in a president? A record of cutting jobs and piling on debt, just to make the 1% richer. That’s Romney and Bain Capital all over.1 Romney got rich laying off workers and crippling companies with debt.

Unfortunately, Democrat Cory Booker went on Meet the Press on Sunday and suggested that somehow it was wrong for the Obama campaign to raise questions about Romney’s time at Bain—and the Romney campaign is having a field day with it.

What’s the really good news? The hornets nest stirred up by Booker is getting media attention on exactly how Bain Capital and other “private equity” firms make money by giving the rest of us the shaft. Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich breaks it all down in this compelling new video, and now that so many people are talking about Bain, we should spread it widely!

The video’s so good that a group dedicated to defending Wall Street firms like Bain has attacked Reich over it. And if we can get the views way up, it will help grab the media’s attention to the damaging role Romney and Bain Capital has played in our economy. So watch it and then be sure to share it with everyone you know.

Robert Reich Explains How Mitt Romney Got Obscenely Rich
Posted on April 11, 2012 by Angie
http://front.moveon.org/robert-reich-explains-how-mitt-romney-got-obscenely-rich/?id=41959-21095459-MXvIknx

Professor Reich explains that when people in the 1% like Mitt Romney and his fellow private equity raiders scheme to fire people, cut benefits, and duck taxes, the 99% has to foot the bill.

That’s the story we want the media telling about Romney and his private equity days—and you can help make that happen, by sharing this video with everyone you know.

Thanks for all you do.
–Justin, Garlin, Emily, Laura, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. “Special report: Romney’s steel skeleton in the Bain closet,” Reuters, January 6, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=269558&id=41959-21095459-MXvIknx&t=4

“Romney’s Bain Capital Made Billions While Bankrupting Nearly One-Quarter Of The Companies It Invested In,” Think Progress, January 9, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=275778&id=41959-21095459-MXvIknx&t=5

Contribute to MoveOn
https://pol.moveon.org/donate/donate.html?cpn_id=44&id=41959-21095459-MXvIknx&t=6

Sent BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

UN: Commission on Science and Technology for Development, fifteenth session

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From: Yona Maro
—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Palais des Nations, Geneva

The Commission will review progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) outcomes at the regional and international levels, including on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

The Commission will address the following priority themes:

Innovation, research, technology transfer for mutual advantage, entrepreneurship and collaborative development in the information society.

Open access, virtual science libraries, geospatial analysis and other complementary information and communications technology and science, technology, engineering and mathematics assets.

In addition, the national science, technology and innovation policy reviews of El Salvador and Peru will be officially presented.

http://www.unctad.org/en/Pages/CalendarMeetingDetails.aspx?meetingid=47

KENYA: KISUMU ERUPTS INTO JOY WITH THE DEATH OF FORMER MASENO VARSITY V/C

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By Chak Rachar

Joyful ululations,car blaring horns and Vuvuzelas rent the air when the death of former Maseno University Vice Chancellor Prof.Fredrick Onyango reached the lakeside town of Kisumu ten kilometres from Maseno University.

Across section of tuk tuk,boda boda and motor cyclists and taxis operators who were celebrating his demise along Jommo Kenyatta Highway then Oginga Odinga Street around 8pm couldn’t believe that Onyango had died saying they had been his targets and bribed the municipality to send them out of business within Kisumu’s Central Business District. Lecturers in most Higher Institrutions within the area were seen toasting beers in bars and other social places saying tthe late had denied them working opportunities while he was heading the institution.

“Its true the giver and taker of life is God,i would not lie that his soul to rest in peace,may he rest in eternal fire in hell”one lecturer said while toasting champagne.

It was all joy as many streamed at Maseno University Hotel when people streamed there as he had said that “idlers and busy bodies were out of bonds at the facility”.

The late’s death might have been contributed to depression as of late he was seen talking alone within the major streets of Kisumu. “He looked miserable,distraught,worn out and really distressed,at times he still forgot that he was the boss at Maseno”one lecturer said.

USA, Oh: Supporting Ohio’s Veterans

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From: Senator Sherrod Brown

Joe Halicker, a WWII Veteran from Northwest Ohio, recently participated in an Honor Flight visit to the WWII Memorial in the nation’s capital. After liberating Lorient, France from Nazi occupation, Mr. Halicker returned home to a grateful nation with the resources needed to provide for his three children.

Today, young veterans often return to their communities and struggle to access the benefits they’ve earned. Whether it’s mental health services, assistance with obtaining disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation, or employment support, too many veterans encounter excessive delays in getting a response from the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA).

After hearing of wait times in excess of more than an hour, I tasked my staff with calling the Veterans Support Hotline at 1-800-827-1000. The wait times my staff experienced ranged from a minimum of 28 minutes to nearly an hour. Ohio veterans should not be put on hold when calling the Veterans’ service hotline. These men and women put their lives on hold to protect our country; and they should have been stuck on hold when they try to access the resources they need to meet their needs. That’s why I recently sent a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to make sure veterans can get the help they need – when they need it.

Sen. Brown and Joe Halicker

Many veterans who rely on the hotline live in areas – especially rural, Appalachian communities – without immediate access to a VA center. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation, the Veterans Outreach Enhancement Act, which would create a partnership between the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. This effort can improve access to VA and other government services such as: technical support for veterans applying for Small Business Administration resources and other federal loans. This is about improving the lives of veterans in Appalachia – and throughout Ohio.

And our efforts shouldn’t wait until veterans are in their twilight years.

Young veterans seeking to use their GI Bill benefits – to study fuel cell manufacturing at Hocking College, engineering at Cleveland State, mathematics at The Ohio State University, or nursing at Cincinnati State – should be able to do so with confidence that they will get the support they need.

However, when veterans seek to use their GI Bill education benefits, they are too often subjected to overly aggressive and misleading marketing tactics from some fly-by-night educational institutions. Some institutions are more concerned with their own bottom lines than with helping veterans who served on the front lines.

That’s why I am a proud sponsor of legislation to restrict misleading marketing practices targeted at Ohio veterans. The GI Consumer Bill Awareness Act would complement veterans’ educational assistance programs by requiring the VA to provide beneficiaries with easy-to-understand, jargon-free information about schools that are approved for GI Bill use.

Servicemembers – already armed with the discipline and skills needed to strengthen the 21st century economy – should not have to struggle to find a job when their military service ends. Yet more than 20 percent of our nation’s veterans between the ages of 20 and 24 years old are unemployed.

We all have a responsibility to help America’s veterans find the resources needed to resume their civilian lives. The VOW to Hire Heroes Act – a new law that provides tax credits for employers who hire unemployed veterans and helps connect veterans with job opportunities – moves us closer to fulfilling that obligation.

Sen. Brown and Martin Elmlinger

But we can do even more. That’s why I recently worked to connect veterans seeking jobs with officials from the Chesapeake Energy Corporation at a jobs fair held at the University Center at Kent State University’s Stark campus in North Canton.

Last summer, I also helped launch the Solar by Soldiers program, which connects servicemembers with one of the fastest growing industries in the United States – clean energy development.

Our nation owes its freedom to people who answered the call of duty and risked their lives for their families, neighbors, and nation. Whenever they need assistance – be it for medical care as they age or a student loan as they enter the next phase of their lives – they deserve a system that works with, not against them.

If you’re interested in joining our efforts, contact my office at 888-896-OHIO (6446) or visit www.brown.senate.gov for additional information on how we can help end high unemployment among America’s veterans.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
U.S. Senator

Washington, D.C.
713 Hart Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510
p (202) 224-2315
f (202) 228-6321

Columbus
200 N High St.
Room 614
Columbus, OH 43215
p (614) 469-2083
f (614) 469-2171
Toll Free
1-888-896-OHIO (6446)

Quantitative indicators for the World Programme of Action for Youth

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From: Yona Maro

The expert group meeting “Quantitative indicators for the World Programme of Action for Youth” was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 12 to 13 December 2011, organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DSPD/DESA) of the United Nations Secretariat, in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division and the United Nations Population Division of DESA.

Several experts expressed their desire for an indicator that would capture youth participation in vocational education or other training outside of formal education, in recognition of the importance that such non-formal educational experiences have for youth opportunities in the workplace. Concerns were raised about the quality of existing data on youth literacy. Mr. Voffal replied that improvements to these data would soon be realized as a result of the on-going work of UNESCO’s Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP), initial results of which would be available in 2012.
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/doc12/RD-EGM-YouthIndicators.pdf

—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

USA: Republican political suicide

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From: Steven Biel, MoveOn.org Civic Action

Hi—I wanted to make sure
you saw this email we sent the other day. This is an incredible opportunity,
and every dollar counts!

Young voters could decide the 2012 election, and
Republicans are slapping them in the face by trying to double the interest
rates on student loans this July. We’ve got a plan to make sure every
college student in America knows what’s happening and who’s to blame. Can
you donate $5?

Dear MoveOn member, 

In 2008, young people voted
in record numbers and went for President Obama over John McCain by
more than 2-to-1.1 This year, every election expert
agrees that if that happens again, Obama will win easily—and the Democrats
will probably win back the Congress.

And now Republicans have
handed us a golden opportunity to fire up young people to vote in 2012.

You see, because of
Republican obstruction in Congress, interest rates on college loans are set
to double this July—pouring even more debt on a generation
already drowning in student loans. President Obama is pushing Congress to stop
it, but as usual Republicans have dug in their heels.2

To make sure young
people know what’s happening, we’re launching one of the largest online ad
campaigns in MoveOn history—putting ads on the Facebook page of every college student in America to warn them about this Armageddon of student debt.

We’ve already tested
several versions of these ads, and we know they’re effective at getting
students to take action. But we’ll have to scrap the plan unless we can
raise $200,000 from MoveOn members. Can you chip in $5?

Yes, I can contribute $5 to help make sure young people vote in
2012.

MoveOn has already heard
from hundreds of thousands of young people freaking out about this—and we’re
already working to make sure they call Congress, register to vote, and keep
taking action on campus.

But really, we need
to reach the millions of young people who aren’t hearing about this, and hands down the best way to reach
them is on Facebook. 

Facebook ads are awesome
because unlike TV, radio, or newspaper ads, people can click on them and sign
up to take action. And of course, Facebook is where young voters spend so
much of their time.

Nothing strikes fear
into the hearts of Republican strategists like the idea of another wave of
young voter turnout like in 2008, and this Republican war on students gives us a chance to
make it happen, if we can act fast.

Click here to contribute $5 to help make sure young people vote
in 2012.

Student debt has become
an absolutely explosive issue among young people. Since
1999, student loan debt has increased by more than 500%. You may not
realize it if you don’t have kids or if you went to college 10 or 20 years ago,
but it now costs on average more than $21,000 a year to go to a public school
with in-state tuition. The best private schools are almost triple that much.3

In fact, we’ve seen two
of the largest petitions in MoveOn history in recent months calling on Congress
to provide relief for those drowning in student debt. This is a sleeping
giant of an issue, and in the coming weeks it can really blow up.

The Republicans’ doubling
of interest rates is just the latest attack on students. For years they’ve been
slashing funding for higher education, leading directly to skyrocketing tuition
at public colleges and universities. Just last year, they cut $8 billion out of
the Pell Grant program for low-income students and reduced the income threshold
for eligibility for a full Pell Grant.4

This is the ultimate
teachable moment for young voters, showing them who’s on their side and why it’s so important
to vote. With your help, we can make this one of the key turning points of the
2012 election.

Can you contribute $5 to help make sure young people vote in
2012?

Thanks for all you do.

–Steven, Joan, Wes,
Marika, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Young Voters in
the 2008 Election," Pew Research Center for People & the Press,
November 12, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=274743&id=40284-21095459-3IDPcRx&t=5

2. "Obama To Make
Student Loans a Campaign Issue," Slate, April 20, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=274744&id=40284-21095459-3IDPcRx&t=6

3. "Chart of the
Day: Student Loans Have Grown 511% Since 1999," The Atlantic,
August 18, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=274368&id=40284-21095459-3IDPcRx&t=7

"College costs
climb, yet again," CNN Money, October 29, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=274745&id=40284-21095459-3IDPcRx&t=8

4. "Student loan
rate hike: What you need to know," CNN Money, April 24, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=274746&id=40284-21095459-3IDPcRx&t=9

Paid for by MoveOn.org Civic Action, www.moveon.org,
not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Want to support our
work? MoveOn Civic
Action is entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions,
no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go
a long way. Chip in here.

 

Empowering Girls and Women through Physical Education and Sport

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From: Yona Mar

The topic of gender and physical education with a particular focus on girls has been widely researched and reported in the English language literature. The issues influencing girls’ participation in physical education and sport and the potential benefits they derive from their experiences are well known.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002157/215707E.pdf

—
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

KENYA: GEMA AND ETHNOCENTRISM-STRATEGY THAT MAY NOT FAVOUR UHURU

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Endorsement of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta for president by the Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru Association (Gema) was not well received by some Meru MPs, not because Uhuru is a bad leader but because the move has taken ethnocentric line.

Originally Gema was seen as vehicles to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities. It was also to promote education, welfare, the spirit of brotherhood among the communities and to preserve their cultural heritage.

The association became more attractive to the communities when it set up a Child Welfare Fund to help orphans and destitute children. Young people were lured into it through the formation of Gema football clubs.

Even though its first office bearers were dominated by Gikuyu prominent politicians such as Julius Kiano, Minister for Local Government as its chairman, Mwai Kibaki, Minister for Finance, Economic Planning and Development, treasurer, Jomo Kenyatta, patron, the Embu and Meru were only given two positions, that is Jeremiah Nyagah, Minister for Information and Jackson Angaine, Minister for Lands and Settlement.

The Embu and Meru began to see light during the 1970s when Gema was widely associated with moves to change the constitution of Kenya in an attempt to prevent the, then Vice-President, Daniel arap Moi, not only from gaining automatic succession if president Kenyatta became indisposed, but because that president was meant to come from Gikuyu community.

Mr. Kihika Kimani who made the call for constitutional change was seen by Embu and Meru communities as hijacking the association from them to Gikuyu. Other prominent Gikuyu members who dominated the association included Njenga Karume and Njoroge Mungai.

When Mzee Kenyatta died in his sleep in 1978, Attorney General Charles Njonjo who was ordered by President Kenyatta to register the association in 1971 convened a Cabinet meeting in which it was resolved that the presidency would go to Gema.

Although kingpins such as Koinange, Mungai, and Angaine had been seen as possible candidates to succeed Kenyatta, the whole idea was still that it must be occupied by Gikuyu.

In 1980, months after Moi ascending to power, the association was banned, along with other groups perceived to have been ethnic-based. It is, however, believed to have continued to function under the guise of Agricultural and Industrial Holdings Ltd.

The association was revived in 2003, when President Kibaki came to power, though in a different outlook: Gema Cultural Association with its chairman retired Methodist bishop Lawi Imathiu assisted by retired ACK Bishop Peter Njenga.

This is not the first time the Gikuyu elite have used other ethnic communities to achieve their political interests. Months of formal partnership between Kanu and Kadu Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya were used from Luo community for similar interest.

Paul Ngei had to break from Kanu to form the African People’s party when the Mboya group in Kanu challenged his leadership of the Kamba people. The threat was however, that if other political parties, associations or movements were formed it would weaken the Kenyatta’s hidden political ambitions. Kadu for that matter was a threat.

Kanu was predominantly Luo and Kikuyu party. Kadu on the other hand was formed specifically to federate the Kalenjin political alliance, the Maasai United Front, the Kenya African People’s party, the Coast African political Union, and the Somali National Association before it attracted other minority ethnic groups.

Had these movements survived Kenyatta would have been removed from power during presidential election. British settlers supported the small tribes against Gikuyu and Luo for the reason that if one of the small tribesmen took over presidency their properties, including land were safe.

Kenyatta and other Gikuyu elites could not wait to see this happen because grabbing the land from the British settlers was one of the main agenda. It explains why Gema became associated with land buying companies through which they acquired huge chunks of land around the country, especially at the Coast and in Rift Valley.

They took most of the land previously owned by the former white settlers, which had initially been earmarked for resettling those who had been turned into squatters by the colonial land policies.

One of the most famous land buying companies was Gema Holdings. Most of the people including retired President Moi and his former Vice President, Mwai Kibaki who had considerable political influence in the Kenyatta regime, were given the opportunity to buy as much land as they could.

That is why when chaos erupted in the Rift Valley shortly after the controversial 2007 Presidential vote tally, the land question became the bone of contention. Kenyatta led a pack of ministers MPs and civil servants in getting plots, mainly in Rift Valley.

Politicians with power and money as well as businessmen with liquid cash managed to acquire thousands of acres. For instance, hardly a year into Kenyatta’s regime, Mama Ngina bought 1,006 acres in Dandora from Messrs Hendrik Rensburg for Sh200, 000.

In the same area, Peter Muigai Kenyatta bought for Sh51, 000 some 700 acres and a further 1266 acres North East of Nairobi for Sh87, 000. Mr Kenyatta also paid Sh45, 000 to acquire 100 acres in Dandora as a “Trustee for minor son Uhuru.”

Former President Daniel arap Moi had by 1964 bought 2,344 acres in Kampi-ya-Moto for Sh60, 000. Mr Kenyatta’s right hand man, Minister of State Mbiyu Koinange, also bought 645 acres in Limuru for Sh497, 000 among others.

First Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga appears not to have bought land using his name but did so under the Luo Thrift and Trading Company. In 1964 he bought 394 acres from the estate of B.H. Patel in Miwani and a further 401 acres in 1965 from C. Patel for Sh255, 000.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was convinced only Kanu could unite Kenyans. He was the leader of the elected members of Legislative Council (Legico). He took the floor of the house and maintained there would be no independence without Kenyatta and Kanu.

It was only later on that Oginga admitted he calculated falsely that merger of Kadu and Kanu, far from strengthening the party, introduced dangerously divisive policies and forces into Kanu’s policy from within.

It is against the background that Gema is now using G7, PNU-Alliance among other parties to make sure that after Kibaki the power must go back to them. It explains why former Thika County Council chairman, Francis Wakahia was quoted to have said that: “Tukuenda ruuri rucoke mukaro na nowe tu ungihota” (we want the river to return to its original course and you are the only person capable of doing this). (Standards, January 28, 2002).

It explains further why according to Limuru MP Peter Mwathi, any Kikuyu politician who doesn’t support Uhuru Kenyatta will fall ill, some of whom include former Cabinet minister Joseph Kamotho who refused to support Uhuru during his address meeting in Murang’a.

According to the MP Njenga Karume fell ill because he was installed a Kikuyu elder contrary to the traditions and against wishes of respected elders who had installed Uhuru as their “king”.

The Gema believe that within the G7 Alliance that brings together Mr Kenyatta, fellow ICC suspect William Ruto, Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa, Matuga MP Chirau Mwakwere and other putative community leaders would be a force to bar Prime Minister Raila Odinga from becoming the president. With this number Gema is convinced Uhuru will get it to State House.

Nigerian Catholic bishop Albert Obiefuna was right to say during the first African Synod assemblies that in Africa, the blood of family, clan and tribe is thicker than the water of baptism that is why Christians or even Muslims for that matter are able to fight each other.

This was already seen in Rwanda in 1959 when bishop Perraudin in his famous Lenten pastoral letter saw the ethnic problem in Rwanda as the source of the social injustices. More so when the bishops of Rwanda in 1992 wrote: “Rwanda will never know peace if Hutu, Tutsi and Twa do not understand and accept each other as equal.

Two years later the bishops came to realize that the core of the problem was the ethnic antagonisms following the 1994 genocide. Ethnicity in itself is not bad-it only becomes a problem when it takes the form of ethnocentrism or tribalism, like Gema, G7 or other tribal alliances.

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