From: boazomory@ . . .
Date: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 11:52 PM

RAPOGI.
20TH OCT 2009
MOBILE NO: 0713497012

Focus on Uriri CDF ……………….. (i)
URIRI PARLIAMENTARY HOPEFULS SEEKS FOR CDF MANAGEMENT REFORMS
Writes Jakotae Omory from Uriri District.
Uriri parliamentary hopefuls have unononimously appealed for changes in the administration of Uriri CDF office sighting low qualifications and corruption of some serving officials.

Consequently, these aspirants have appealed to the Uriri member of parliament Hon. Cyprian Ojwang’ Omollo to facilitate the reforms by carrying out complete overhaul of the current officials to ensure the smooth running of the office.

These were non other than Mark Nyamitta, Joshua Owiny, George Ocholla and Dr. Joshua ongwara.They said these while attending to the burial of the late wife and child of Dave Nyamitta who died in a tragic road accident.

These aspirants view the CDF as the major contributor to the development of the constituency’s economic, hence need for reforms to accommodate all the divergent views of all the constituents. The meeting should be held at public place not MP’s home.

On the very day the kamgundho ward councilor Mr. Okoth Aram send the crowd into series of laughter’s when he sorted to know the qualifications of CDF treasurer Mr. Ooko Atong’a. and how much salary he was earning, alleging that all over sudden he has built a permanent house plot and bought four motor cycles and according to him Mr. Atong’a was a class three drop out without qualification to run such a big office.

Upon investigation by this writer, the unraveling details emerged that the two had ruffled feathers over Ondome Primary’s allocation which the councilor was trying to block, forcing the CDF treasurer to marching out of the CDF office by assistance of some youth challenging him to talk about LATIF and LASDAP because that is his area of jurisdiction.

Meanwhile during the occasion, the youthful candidate Mr. Mark Nyamitta carried the day because his speech was devoid of scathing political attacks on neither MP nor his fellow parliamentary hopefuls. Political pundits were arguing that if the elections were carried out the very day Mark could have emerged the winner.

Another thing which took centre stage is the neglect of the youths and misuse of the constituency youth funds because even the constituency youth leader is past 35 years and has got no interest of the youth at heart. These are the reasons why the youths have switched their loyalty to a youthful candidate Mr. Mark Nyamitta arguing that Mark has been promoting local youths football teams and holding series of harambees not forgetting to mention his elder brother Ken Nyamitta popularly known as ‘Nyakwar okombe’ who have been sponsoring the youths to series of picnics and drinking sprees.

According to another candidate Mr. Ongwara the searchlight of suspicion is squarely on the Constituency Management Committee who he alleged is given 40% discount on every CDF allocation with impunity.

ENDS
boazomory@yahoo.com

– – –
Subject: parliamentary hopeful seeks to know the qualification of uriri cdf treasurer

From: o j_k
Date: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 8:45 PM

To my dear friend, President Kibaki.

Mzee, if I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t tell you what I am about to say. This is for your own good.

Do you want to know the truth, nothing but the whole truth? The honest truth is you are not a wise man at all. Not any more. As a matter of fact, you are a very selfish, arrogant individual. And you come across as someone who couldn’t possibly love this country, Kenya. No ways Mzee! Impossible!

Look how you have run the country down. Look how insecure the country has become. Hard working people, going about their daily business, are being kidnapped in broad daylight for ransom. Young children, going to school or playing with friends, are being kidnapped, some ending up raped or killed or both. Vigilantes are controlling Kenyan towns and roads. Thieves are road blocking public roads, stopping vehicles at will, stripping the passengers, and stealing their personal effects, raping girls and women, and killing innocent Kenyans. People are being robbed daily from their homes. People are dying from preventable hunger. Kenyans are dying in large numbers in preventable road accidents. Museveni’s armed forces are in Migingo, Kenya, beating up fishermen, who are Kenya citizens, who going about their business in their country.

And what are you doing Mzee? Nothing! You are incapable of seeing these things. Like I said Mzee, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, and believe me, I wished someone else, such as your son Jimmy, or any of these guys who hung around you, like Uhuru Kenyatta, Saitoti, Kalonzo, etc..etc, had the guts to stare you in the face and tell you the truth. Mzee, your brain is gone, and that is the honest truth.

You are old and tired and it shows. You are physically, and mentally incapable of running your own home, let alone running a country. You don’t have the slightest clue what the role of the government in people’s lives is anymore. You continue to selfishly hang on to this presidency position, that you stole, even as the country is hurting miserably. I have not even talked about the thousands who died early last year because of your stupid decision to hang on to power.

Can you understand anything anymore at all, Mr. Kibaki? The country is abundantly bleeding because of you! You are old, tired and incompetent! Your inactivity is taking a toll on the whole country. Unlike you, most leaders realize when their time has come to leave the seat of power, or their employment, because of age, so they retire. That gene, the retirement gene, for some reason is acutely missing in your system. You would sooner see the country in ruins than retire.

I want to submit to you sir, that you have a medical condition, Mr. Kibaki. That is why you can neither see, nor comprehend the misery of the people of your country. That is why you still convince yourself that the country needs your services. Mr. Kibaki, the country does not need your services because you are in no physical or mental capacity to give any. I also want to submit to you that your medical condition, aka old age, has no cure. So, if there is even the slightest comprehension still left in you, understand that you must leave now! It is an emergency! You must leave now, and not wait till 2012, or until you fall dead on the job.

Please save the country the agony of another very old, incoherent president, dying in office. Not that I wish you death. Far from it. But I saw you on TV the other day, and man, it is a big shame, the physical effort you had to exert just to get in a car. I couldn’t help thinking, here is Kenyatta’s death and succession wars all over again. It was a pretty ugly, expensive undertaking last time around, when Mzee Kenyatta died from old age, on the job. Just like you, Kenyatta never comprehended that he needed to have vacated the office sooner, for the good of the nation. And people like you, who used to hang around him full time, didn’t have the guts to tell him to make a smooth transition to the younger generation.

So Just go man! Go, my friend! Go spend your time enjoying your loot! One more day with you in office, is too many more Kenyans unnecessarily getting kidnapped, beaten up, raped, robbed, killed, and being subjected to all kinds of preventable danger.

Kenya will just be fine. Young, educated, competent, patriotic folks have been standing by for eternity, ready with modern ideas, to take over and turn this country around, just as soon as your brain can comprehend that your time is up. Mzee, running a country is a young man’s job. Please let go!

Love you.

Odundo jaKarateng’

Member, The Internet Professor’s Millionaire Club
http://www.goldbar.net/ua/link.php?affID=bigdreams_ad

– – –
Subject: Mzee Kibaki, it is time to go enjoy your loot.

From: Wambua Kaloki Wakenya
Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 5:42 PM

Your Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Kenya, I am writing to you as a fellow citizen from Eastern Kenya.

There was a time when we regarded you in high esteem. It is the time we used to say you are fit to lead Kenya. However, that was that time. As you very well know, there is a time for everything – a time to praise and a time to criticize, a time to laugh and a time to cry.

Kenya is now in a crying mood, crying because Kenya almost went to the dogs in 2008 and almost two years are passing and some senior politicians are reminding us by replaying the negative politics that almost killed the nation.

Mr. Vice President, being a learned person yourself, I know you are aware but either forgot or ignored that the politics of exclusion and playing tribal cards is what has bedeviled Kenya for many years. I mean the politics where a few tribes can gang up to exclude the rest of Kenya in governing the
nation. When you associate yourself with that kind of politics, it is time for your admirers to admire alternatives.

It also does not help that your inconsistent behavior before and after last year’s bungled elections have not been explained to your supporters.

We have not forgotten how you personalized ODM-K at the exclusion of your comrade in arms thereby undermining the reformist movement reason being that none of your comrades was ready to endorse your candidature. To add insult to injury, after the bungled elections, you promptly joint the government and occupied a frontline position in demonizing your former comrades.

Now, when you tell us to exclude other Kenyans in forming some tribal based alliance, it is time we are telling you to go and harvest honey in Mwingi. The kind of politics we are seeing from you are far from excellent, retrogressive and not acceptable in the Kenya we are dreaming of after 2012.

Truly your fellow citizen.

– – –
Subject: OPEN LETTER TO H.E. KALONZO MUSYOKA
To: jaluo@jaluo.com

From: odhiambo okecth
Date: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:04 AM

We have just celebrated the 46th Kenyatta Day Celebrations and in his speech, His Excellency the President highlighted areas which he considered had been of major achievement for his government. He noted that matters of security should involve us all. And I agree with him to some extent.

46 years is such a long time, and I bet we need to walk down memory lane with Mr. President. When we attained Independence in 1963, our Founding Fathers had identified 5 issues to deal with; illiteracy, disease, shelter, water and food security among other major concerns.

As I look at these 5 issues, I must appreciate that a lot has been done on improvement on infrastructure. Our roads are being built and that is some very positive effort that we need to appreciate. Commuting between the rural and urban centres is becoming easy and fast. We have also been promised faster internet connectivity and it is sad that faster to the government is 3 years and above. The low costs that were to arrive with TEAMS has ebbed and talk is now on costs coming down 3 years hence. How I wished these were addressed early enough, we would have been addressing other issues of concern by now.
Illiteracy; I doubt whether this has been addressed adequately. Free Primary Education has been introduced and as we write, many children are enrolled in school in pursuit of some education. This has come with its own challenges and the government must put in place mechanism that address the problems associated with FPE; space, provisions, teachers and curriculum. 46 years down the line, we are still experimenting with systems that seem not to work to our best of intentions. This is a challenge we must face and fix.
Disease; That Kenyans do not have access to quality healthcare is a fact. Even our leaders seem not to trust our medical facilities 46 years down the line. Just recently, the Head of Civil Service had to be taken to South Africa for a simple operation; Our Prime Minister is known to always visit Germany for his eye problems; Many of our leaders have died in foreign hospitals seeking treatment. Yet, the common man has been left to die at will. 46 years down the line, it is a sad reality that we have failed to address matters of health for the common man. Health insurance is a mirage.
Shelter; Just 2 days ago, another high rise building collapsed on Kenyans in Kiambu. Several buildings have suffered the same fate. And it is sad that shelter and the need for more houses has been left on the hands of people who have no values. Nairobi is the only city in the world where building codes and regulations are not adhered to. And 46 years down the line, we have a series of unplanned urban settlement, unfit for human settlement at that with no concerns for pedestrians and other non-motorists.
Water; When Mzee Moi took over power in 1978, we started hearing that clarion call of water for all by the year 2000. The year 2000 came and passed and sad as it is, Nairobi has inadequate water supply today. Water trickles into our taps occasionally while some people see no water at all. This has given rise to many water vendors, some in tankers while many are on handcarts, crisscrossing Nairobi to help serve Nairobians with water we no nothing about its safety. 46 years down the line, we have no idea about how we want to tackle water security.
Food Security; The fact that Kenyans are dying of hunger is a world wide reality. People all over the world know that we cannot feed our people as our government officials conspire to sell our maize reserves to the Sudanese. It is known that every year we must extend our hands out to the international community for food support. This is a sad reality 46 years down the line.

These are some of the very basic needs of any human being. And if we cannot get them right in 46 years, what guarantees do we have of ever getting them right with these same kind of leaders at the helm?

Tribalism and nepotism has become rampant in this government. When we came together to campaign for Mzee Kibaki in 2002, little did we know that Mzee will upon assuming office kill our aspirations to be one people. We joined hands and sang in his praise and indeed, when he gave that acceptance speech on 31st December 2002, when he reminded us that the time for everything goes was over, that Kenyans must go back to the rule of law, and that there will be no more road side decisions, we all had a sigh of relief. We knew that at long last, we were reclaiming Kenya for Kenyans. Soon, Central Bank, Treasury and Kenya Revenue Authority were packed by home boys. Then the journey began; pack all institutions and arms of government with home boys. And Kenyans are watching. I bet this was retrogressive.

Security has become a major concern to many people in Kenya. We have daily escapades of car jarkings, abductions and extortions. While car jarkings and abductions can be excused, how do we excuse extortion? In the matatu industry, known people from one geographic region are running a parallel tax collection system which the PSV owners must pay, and the government knows this but does nothing about it. And we keep talking in all public occasions about need to boost security! This is a paradox that is encouraged because the security apparatus at the top most level can conduct a meeting in mother tongue; Regular Police, AP, CID, NSIS are all headed by a qualified team from one region, and as such, cannot stop the extortion ring run by their brothers.

The last puzzle to the jigsaw is impunity championed by the Judiciary. The Judiciary has been so domesticated to an extent that all and sundry do not give a damn about the rule of law. The Judiciary is being used for gate keeping by the Executive. They protect and reward the corruption cartels; they protect and reward those who steal from government and government departments; they refuse to meet out justice to those who infringe on the law, those who ran a parallel tax system- the extortionists.

Judiciary serves the Executive very well. They are used to frustrate any loud mouths; if you are a lawyer, your cases will be delayed and if not, unfavorable rulings are given to you despite the gravity of the law. 46 years down the line we cannot be talking about reforming the Judiciary. We should have had a Judicial System that works; that is beyond reproach, not the kind of thing that we all know works not. Ask Raila Odinga- 2007-8!

I bet we are not all that helpless as Kenyans. We can all rally together and demand action; action from these team that we have tasked with leadership. They must not give us lip service to service delivery as they engage their energies in killing Kenya.

As we welcome the presidential address to the nation on perceived areas of success 46 years down the line, we must address these basic problems with the same vigour with which the government plan scandals, because, all the scandals that we have had are government sponsored.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Komarock Nairobi.

– – –
Subject: Kenya on auto pilot; 46 years down the line…..

From: Alex Tallam
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 11:00 AM

The root cause of the problems Kenyans face today was as a result of our past leaders, especially the first government led by Kenyatta. This government started off badly by sowing the seeds of tribalism, Kenyatta’s first government was purely a Kikuyu affair, right from the security forces to the civil service. He simply could not appreciate the fact that Kenya was made up of 42 tribes, this he did not hide, he even made a statement to the effect that “ sisi tukikamua ngomb’e asubuhi, wengine watakamua jioni” this was arrogance of the highest order.

Kenyatta had a duty to resettle people who were earlier evicted by the white settlers to their original farms, this did not happened, instead, they allocated themselves huge tracks of land, that is why Kenyatta family today owns 700,000 acres, Moi family 500,000 (most of it acquired when he was president) and Kibaki 300,000 acres (courtesy of Ndungu Land report).

Many others went on to acquire wealth at the expense of the people who were supposed to benefit from the independence they fought for. If we look at the leaders we have today, they are there courtesy of the ill gotten wealth, and they will do anything to cling to power just to protect their wealth, that is what happened in 2007, otherwise, how do we explain a situation where a leader (he was sworn in under darkness) who has been rejected by the people clings to power even when people were losing their lives? And property destroyed?

Perhaps the most serious injustice that the Kenyatta regime committed against Kenyans were the curtailment of civil liberties, the people were not free to speak against atrocities the government was committing, that explains why many of the political assassinations took place during his time.

The first step in solving our problems today therefore is by appreciating that we have problems and then we look for solutions. So we must admit mistakes were made and there is a problem and by taking that step, the problem is as good as solved. Again we should not forget our past, because we must reflect on our past to be able to build the future. We must look back and use our past to correct where we failed and at the same time we must look back and use our past to make it even better where we succeeded. Those who advocate the idea of forgetting our past will not solve the problems we face today because the injustices visited on the people will always come back to haunt us just as we witnessed last year. We must appreciate the fact that there are wounds which must be healed, so we must seek to heal the wounds once and for all, because a wound will remain a wound anyway until it is healed up completely.

Otherwise leaving a wound closed will not heal by itself, it will eat the body underneath until it will be opened up (Kibaki did it last year through rigging) one time or another and it will be fatal.

My stand is that solutions MUST BE FOUND TODAY AND NOT TOMORROW. We should not postpone a problem while we have time and resources to solve it. Today is the time to be honest to each other, sit down and find solutions to these problems. It is better we open up the wounds by speaking out on the injustices done without fear and seek to heal them without necessarily going through what we have witnessed and that will actually deter it from occurring again in future. I know many will come out to accuse me of being a tribalist, but I also know many more will reason with me. For example, it is a fact that the kikuyu community are to be found all over Kenya courtesy of the Kenyatta government. I am well travelled in Kenya, and I will give a few examples I know where the Kikuyu community were settled by Kenyatta government, Hindi settlement scheme, Mpeketoni settlement scheme and Lake Kenyatta settlement scheme all in coast province. Many more settlements were set up in Rift valley I beg not to name these because I may be biased (I am from Rift valley), I will expect therefore members of the Kikuyu community who are participants in this forum to be honest and agree with me that this was not right given that other people were also in these areas, and that even if the constitution allows us to own property anywhere in the country, it should not be seen to favour one community only, it should be across the board (it is nearly impossible for members of other communities to own property in central province). Some may argue that these people bought land in the areas I have just named, that may be the position, but you must agree with me that the government created the right environment for the Kikuyu community to do so through loans and awareness much to the disadvantage of other communities. I for one will admit that Moi continued with tribalism but at the same time I want to add that it never benefited the Kalenjin community as a whole just as the case with Kenyatta and Kikuyu community.

Alex.
– – –
Subject: Kenyatta the root cause of our current problems.

“chifu_wa_malindi” wrote:

Comments:

“What is surprising about it? The kleptomaniac African rulers can make many more million by continuing with their wicked corrupt ways and they have been quite untouchable for their crimes.”

*******
In the same way as Western leaders have, from George ‘God is on our Side’ Bush to Tony ‘There is a 45-minute Threat’ Blair? I’d have a lot more sympathy for your point if you actually contextualized it: Western nations are just as corrupt, just as autocratic, as anything you’ll see in ‘darkest’ Africa. The difference is one of perception and degree, and involves the media as much as it does effective governmental control of information.

Thus, while our governments are currently stealing money and propping up disfunctional financial services, failed PFI initiatives, and crooked politicians to the tune of billions of pounds, we are exposed to the never ending barrage of negative publicity from (and of) Africa, which implies and directly reaffirms the prejudice that African dictators are the more corrupt, more retrograde of modern leaders. They are not. They have never been. The most pernicious actors in this particular charade have always been those with the greatest concentrations of power, and to find those you have to look no further than London, Washington, Tokyo and Berlin (among other notable places).

************ ******

Contextualize? The context is quite simple: the prize is awarded for “good governance in Africa,” and “for achievement in African leadership.”

Had there been a prize for “good governance in a western nation” and the prize committee had found no western leader worthy of it this year, an anti-Western rant might have some relevance to the piece.

********

Here is the full article

Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership will not be awarded this year

Billionaire businessman says committee considered a range of candidates – but could find no winner

Mo Ibrahim tells a press conference in London there will be no winner for the leadership prize this year. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images

A foundation set up to award a $5m (£3m) annual prize for good governance in Africa has said there will be no winner this year because it could not find anyone to award it to.

In a snub to recent ex-presidents and heads of state in Africa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation – set up by the billionaire businessman and philanthropist – said its prize committee considered some credible candidates, but could not select a winner.

“The prize committee is independent of the board,” Ibrahim said. “It is the prize committee’s decision not to award a prize this year and we entirely respect it. We made clear at the launch of the foundation that there may be years when there is no winner.”

The seven-member prize committee is chaired by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general. It includes Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and Nobel laureate, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel laureate, and Graça Machel, the former minister of education and culture in Mozambique.

Launched in 2006, the Mo Ibrahim foundation was designed to encourage good governance in Africa and to hand out the world’s largest annually awarded prize. The Ibrahim prize for achievement in African leadership is worth $5m over 10 years and $200,000 for life annually thereafter.

Past winners include Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, and Nelson Mandela, who was made an honorary laureate in recognition of his “extraordinary leadership qualities”.

A Sudanese-born former BT engineer, Ibrahim moved to Britain in 1974 and created and sold two highly successful companies ? including Celtel International ? earning himself a personal fortune and turning many people into millionaires in the process. The Forbes rich list puts his wealth at $2.5bn, and he appears regularly at the top of lists of influential black Britons.

Writing in today’s Guardian, Ibrahim defended himself against critics who suggested he was trying to “bribe leaders to do their jobs”. He said the critics “are failing to take into account how central governance and leadership are for Africa’s development” .

He also argued that the lifelong nature of the award provided African leaders with the option of continuing a life in public service as they do not ? unlike leaders in the west ? have the option of jumping on the gravy train after office.

In conjunction with the award, the foundation publishes an annual index on the quality of governance in every African country, designed to promote and stimulate debate around the world. Although no prize will be given out this year, the planned events in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, next month will go ahead.

They will include a discussion forum on issues critical to Africa’s future, including climate change, agriculture and food security and regional economic integration.

“At a time when, we are seeing overall progress in Africa, despite worrying setbacks in some countries, it is vital that African stakeholders and institutions come together to look for a way forward on the major challenges facing the African continent,” Ibrahim said. “I look forward to the discussions around this urgent African agenda.”

http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2009/oct/ 19/mo-ibrahim- african-leadersh ip-prize

TheotherWay’ s profile picture TheotherWay

19 Oct 09, 5:09pm (about 9 hours ago)

– – – – – – – – – – –

From: “Patricia”
Date: 10/20/2009 03:06AM
Subject: Re: No African leader qualified for the Mo Ibrahim $5m award!!

Chifu,

This is a prime subject for Professor Ayittey! The Presidents of Botswana, Mozambique and Nelson Mandela are former winners, can anybody on this forum think of any leaders in Africa today who they think might qualify? When Mo Ibrahim first proposed this prize I thought there could be some contenders, nobody springs to mind! This is a sad fact for Africa`s people.

Pat.

– – – – – – – – – –

Mo Ibrahim, himself wrote this:
____________ _________ _____

Government may not directly provide these public goods and services, but government must be accountable for whether or not they are delivered to citizens. These issues are all quantifiable, measurable. And this is exactly what the Ibrahim Index of African Governance does. This month, in Cape Town, we launched the 2009 edition of the index. By taking a comprehensive look at the state of governance across the continent, we provided an in-depth view of government successes and failures. We found tangible ways to measure rights, participation, economics and social protection, particularly in relation to how these issues impact people’s lives. Information like this empowers people to demand more from their governments.

To be used effectively, this information has to be given to the people who need it most – citizens, civil society groups, business leaders and politicians. The foundation is committed to a programme of dissemination, which includes ads in newspapers, radio features and engagement with think tanks and universities across Africa.

Interestingly, through our efforts to place a newspaper advertisement in every country in Africa, we find a number of countries which refuse to publish our findings. This censorship, either imposed by the state or self-imposed, tells an important story in itself.
____________ _________ _________ __

First, how do Africans hold their governments and leaders accountable when they cannot throw them out of office because elections are stolen, since the electoral commissioner is not independent?

Second, what is the use compiling this Index, ostensibly to provide information to the masses when the media is not independent and is controlled by the state?

If I were Mo Ibrahim, I would pick one or two of the 6 institutions above, and use all my money and campaign for their establishment across Africa.

My choice would be obvious: the media. I am not rich yet but have already started Radio Free Africa – http://www.radiofre eafrica.org.

George Ayittey,
Washington, DC

– – – – – – – – – – –

From: George Ayittey
Subject: Re: Re: No African leader qualified for the Mo Ibrahim $5m award!!
To: Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 12:52 PM

Pat,

I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Mo Ibrahim. He made it big and he wants to give something back – try an improve the deplorable situation in Africa. I tip my hat off to him. There are many filthy rich Africans – more wealthier than Mo – who choose to hide overseas and enjoy their booty quietly. Same on them! I hope I don’t meet them in a dark alley.

Unfortunately, however, Mo Ibrahim’s approach toward improving governance is flawed. The paucity of good leaders is too glaring. AS I have often said, we have had about 208 African leaders since independence in the 1960s. One would be hard-pressed to find 10 good leaders. So if you are going to award a prize to a good African leader, you will very soon run out of eligible candidates. I predicted this about two years ago because that was exactly what happened to another award, called the Africa Prize for Leadership, given by the Hunger Project. See this link:

http://www.africapr ize.org/

Other people may find the very idea of awarding prizes to African leaders who step down from power peacefully repugnant. Aren’t they supposed to step down after their terms expire? So why reward them? Or why reward them when they have stolen billions?

Be that as it may, my complaint with Mo Ibrahim’s approach is his emphasis on LEADERSHIP. We have not shed this old shibboleth. As I have argued over and over again at this forum, the focus should be on INSTITUTIONS. Recall the statement president Obama made in hisspeech in Accra on July 11. “Africa doesn’t need strong leaders; it needs strong institutions.”

At this forum, I have identified 6 critical institutions:

1. An independent and free media – for free flow of information

2. An independent electoral commission — for free and fair elections

3. An independent judiciary – for the rule of law

4. An independent central bank – for monetary stability (Look at Zimbabwe’s currency)

5. An efficient civil service, and

6. A neutral and professional security and armed forces.

Give Africans these 6 institutions and they themselves will clean up the continent and establish the level of governance Mo Ibrahim hasn’t seen before. These institutions are not established by leavers but by civil society.

– – – – – – – – – – –

From: His Excellency, Mwai Kibaki, President, Republic of Kenya.
date: 10/20/2009
subject: Do not mess with me or my family

Dear Jaluo Dot Kom:

Watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSlTW8mjirs

This is my final warning.

Yours truly,

President and Lucy Kibaki.

from odhiambo okecth
date Oct 17, 2009 11:03 AM
subject Serena Williams

Serena Williams is no role model for girls

16th October 2009

The latest issue of some magazine has Serena William stark NAKED in the front cover.

And it reminded me of when Serena came to Kenya recently and his dress code on arrival left me wondering what message she was sending to the girls who aspire to be like her.

For me, I was done with her. I saw that she was the kind of influence I would not like my daughters to emulate. Some people vouched for her big thighs, some vouched for the kind of money she makes playing semi naked as she always does.

As Ahmed Sekou Toure would tell the French that we were happy in freedom than be chained to servitude through our love for freebies. This is the kind of influence we are craving to associate with. This is the kind of influence that sent the Minister for Education dancing in public!

Recent studies have shown how badly we are doing and before it could dry on the ink, Serena William sitting Naked in a front cover of a magazine.

Some food for thought for Serena Thigh Lovers……

Odhiambo T Oketch
Proudly Kenyan

from OKELLO David Otieno
date Oct 17, 2009 11:48 AM
subject Re: Serena Williams

I never mind her thighs, but for sure….she is not a role model in
our society. In the US, its o.k. But here, I wouldn’t want my daughter
to even know her..lol

from Shri Sa Hetep
date Oct 18, 2009 6:21 PM
subject Re: Serena Williams

I am a Black American female, and a great part of my experience in this country has been learning that despite traditional standards of beauty (thin, fair, european), I am beautiful just like anyone one else.

Also, as I try to identify with my African heritage, I realized that I do not have to go through a female genital mutilation ritual in order to become a respected woman among Africans. It is not a crime, as a Black Woman, to be Strong, Independent, Successful, and able to define my own destiny. This is what Venus and Serena Williams represent to me….and this might make some feel insecure (especially men).

In my humble opinion, Serena is where she is today because of a huge effort from her Father’s contribution, hard work, and vision. I highly respect this man for what he has done with both Venus and Serena Williams. I am sure he taught them proper values, and morals, but what his efforts taught them most of all, as a loving Father, is for his talented girls to Strive to be the best, Be Strong, Disciplined, Competitive, and have your mind. Although they came from poverty, he taught them not to allow their circumstances to define who they want to be in life. I think Serena used those same values in deciding to be on the cover of this magazine. She defines for herself who she wants to be, and I respect her for that.

There is an organization called Girls, Inc. and it mentors, teaches, & encourages our young girls to be strong, intelligent, etc. And it is teaching our girls to make their own choices and follow their own minds/hearts.

http://www.girlsinc.org/girls-inc.html

Instead of judging a woman like Serena Williams, maybe consider how much Black Women have struggled to be defined as beautiful to mainstream society. Black male athletes are given way too much latitude in their own personal behavior and are still respected as well as used a role models for young boys, e.g. Magic Johnson is still respected despite his sexual infidelities & AIDS, Koby Bryant is still respected despite his adultery, even OJ Simpson was respected by Black Men after his first encounter with the law. Now Serena has not broken any laws, or cheated on a husband…she simply chose to pose in a way that made her feel beautiful. The picture was tastefully done, not at all like a playboy picture (which many men respect and subscribe to).

How you raise your daughter is your personal business, but let us maintain respect for our high profile Black Female atheletes & celebrities that have worked very hard to achieve success. Do not contribute to an industry that has put down the success and beauty of our sisters.

Peace,

Shri Sa Hetep
(Humbly Black Female American)

from basil ibrahim
date Oct 18, 2009 6:41 PM
subject Re: Serena Williams

I’m afraid the old Egyptian is right.

It continues to sadden, just how much we continue to ignore, or deny individuals their rights, while campaigning for a more just society through group claims.

The example of the Mau where Kenyans are ganging up to deny individuals their property rights, the public outcry over the proposed marriage bills – and any laws that seek to improve the lot of Kenyan women, the outrageous protests by the Christian fundamentalists over the provisions for Kadhi courts in the proposals for a new constitution, the vicious way many people spoke of South African athlete Caster Semenya agter the World Championships, the complete lack of sympathy for Kenyan muslims/ Somalis being terrorised and attacked in the war on terror or Kikuyu boys being mowed down in the war on Mungiki, the silly protestations over the same-sex union on page 3 of the latest Sunday Nation and finally this moralising over Serena’s exercising her personal freedoms, show just how much work we have to put in before we realise that liberty is the most importantbasic foundational right.

It is very odd that anyone engaged in human rights work should find themselves exercised about a woman liberated from the shackles of conformity to traditions we neither understand nor truly respect. The American president and his wife, have not incidentally, been not too long ago on the covers of American magazines. Then too, there were people telling them what decorum demanded they expose or hide from the public.

from Jupiter Punungwe
date Oct 18, 2009 11:55 PM
subject Re: Re: Serena Williams

I grew up in Zimbabwe with people who had hardly been influenced by European standards of beauty. Believe me when I say Serena is the epitome of beauty in my cultural standards. She is such an unbelievably high quality specimen of a beautiful woman.

She has a nice well rounded bottom. Her skin is that very beautiful coffee hue of brown. It has a nice smooth texture that gleams when well oiled with traditional cosmetics like peanut butter oil. Her legs are so firm and well rounded. She looks so sexy. I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that she rounds off he sexuality by getting really juicy down there during the act. She has a wonderfully strong physique that you can almost imagine her holding onto you tightly, grinding her hips powerfully against you. What more would a men went.

She should not judge herself by the standards of a race she does not belong to. She should ask those of us who know that she was made perfectly for us and she will never feel insecure because we will be praising her all the way. Actually most men in my culture would write off her sister Venus as too skinny.