A sample text widget
Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis
euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.
Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan.
Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem,
suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.
|
How else do you explain how Uhuru Kenyatta is getting away with his ridiculous traffic de-congestion plan? Only in Kenya, can you attempt to ease congestion in the CBD by banning public transport. This solution comes from a guy who’s never ever even dreamed of taking public transport.
Beyond the ridiculousness in logic, what about the suffering of the thousands of commuters who have to trek to their places of work every morning, or now pay extra for a shuttle. Not to mention the insecurity for those who have to go home late in the evening, or the traffic congestion that has now been created in Jogoo Road. Kenyan politicians have continued to miss the boat about the growing threat that inequality poses in Kenya, even after the post-election violence. Their solution, lets continue to ghettoize the lower class and then be perplexed next time we see people with nothing to lose killing and burning everything in sight. Speaking of which, guys in Kenya…have there been any reports on who owns this Double M shuttle service? The Nation says that the company is linked to a Mr. John Mwangi. No surprises if it’s an Uhuru hookup.
I’m surprised to see that only local councillors have spoken out against this ill-thought out plan. Shouldn’t employers should speak out for their employees (hello Kepsa?), and what about the “people’s president”? And MPs from the area?
Nairobi traffic is a nightmare, but the cost of solution should not be borne by those least positioned to bear it. Uhuru should take lessons from former Bogota mayors, like Penalosa and Mockus. And kwanza isn’t he doing the mayor’s job? What’s up with that?
Eish, me vex.
…vote for Ushahidi at Netsquared website. Last day to vote is Friday 21st March 5:00 pm Pacific US Time
For those of you who have already voted, please note that this is different from the number of stars that we have already picked up (thanks y’all).
Hash, has a very detailed explanation of the process.
Thanks for your support! There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in Kenya and we need to revamp Ushahidi towards this.
– Spitzer wants to be more than just a number…hehehe.
– Derrick Ashong in the New York Times.
– The Shikwekwes, an African ‘webcomic’.
– Interesting post by Ethan on transparency and corruption in Brazil. Speaking about public declaration of wealth by civil servants, what the hell is happening in Kenya? Wasn’t there a push to make the forms accessible to the public. According to this report, the wealth declaration process has been a bit of a mess with no one knowing what to do with the forms after they have been collected – they are apparently not even being computerized. Lets not even go into the fact that the information reported is to be kept confidential…what’s the whole point then? There should be a push to get the current members of the tenth parliament to make their forms public even though the law does not require it.
What: Report release on organized political violence and the crisis of
governance in Kenya
Who: Ben Rawlence, Human Rights Watch Africa researcher
When: Monday, March 17, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.
Where: Stanley Hotel, Nairobi
Hat tip AfroM
The competition is open to university students in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Burundi.
The deadline for this is March 17th; so if you have some great ideas, you can still submit them for consideration. The categories/types of software gadgets and apps that they are looking for include:
(1) Best Gadget UI
(2) Best Local Content Gadget (Most Locally Useful Gadget)
(3) Best Education Specific Gadget
(4) Best Procrastination Gadget
(5) Most Technically Sophisticated Gadget
(6) Gadget Most Likely to Get International Traffic
(7) Best Social Gadget
What the winners get:
“Six students will be awarded prizes. Five students will receive a $350 USD stipend and 1 student will receive a $600 stipend. All winners will receive a Google t shirt, pen, and notebook valuing $7 USD
Application details available here.
…I think some kind of active follow up with the Standard is necessary.
I have no problems with tabloid newspapers. In fact I regularly read them when I’m in Nairobi. I do have problems with a supposedly serious newspaper that has “tabloidish” tendencies – and I don’t think it’s not enough for us to say but “hasn’t the Standard always been like that” etc. For some reason (and this is a whole other post), we are content to be a citizens who have our agenda defined by us by other people – politicians make tribe “the” quintessential factor in politics and we buy it; non-tabloid newspapers push trashy stories and we buy it; ISPs give us crappy service and we buy it. I could go on and on…
My point is we need to start exhibiting a bit of pushback as individuals – at some point our small (and perhaps meaningless to some) individual actions become a collective voice that says we are tired of this [fill in the blank] crap. I refuse to believe the all these people and institutions that are driving us crazy are above being influenced, the key question is who is trying to do the influencing…so far most of us with the intellect, the passion, the influence, the abilities etc. to get things going in a different direction are nowhere to be seen…we just want things to be “normal.”
Back to the Standard…perhaps we could write letters to the editor expressing our disappointment with their quality of reporting. The letters probably won’t see the light of the day, but at least my rants (and maybe yours) won’t be restricted to this blog. I agree with the commenter who has called for constructive criticism.
But first, I need to find an email address where letters to the editor can be submitted. The website wasn’t very helpful. Can anyone who has access to the hard copy of the Standard share the info?
I have yet another post cooking, but I need to go and grapple with dinner for a one-year old who will chew only certain foods, depending on her mood. So I’ll just put up these links and wonder how Kenyan newspapers are managing to outdo themselves when it comes to crappy, and yes, irresponsible journalism given what the country has just gone through. It’s bad enough that they are pushing the lets all forget about things and move on meme. And this is the profession that supposed to play a critical role in helping Kenyans make sure that the politicians stick to their end of the bargain?
1. Nice to know just how splendid the opening of Parliament was (Marende’s “frizzy” wig included). Half the article is about the guard of honor. In my wildest dreams there would be just as detailed reports about the attendance records of MPs in future sessions.
2. Even better to know about Raila’s new security detail (what I really want to know is whether they wear RayBans?). This is power-sharing 101 my friends. You have your security detail and I have mine. Thank you Standard for breaking it down for us. And of course the big headache of where the new PM will live…much more important than where 600,000 + IDPs will go..we are moving on.
3. The speaker’s wife outdoes her husband with colorful headgear.
I know there are readers who have issues with my posting of “humanitarian” efforts, and who doubt the efficacy of these efforts, and who feel that what is needed is more “political” ways to engage the “people/masses.” I have a response cooking in my mind. In the meantime, I will keep the info. coming.
WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE?
1 Minute message of peace beginning with self-introduction.
Suggested Topics:
1. Congratulate Kenyans for the power sharing agreement and the end of
violence.
2. Stress the importance of reconciliation and non-violence as the
nation begins to heal.
3. Encourage Kenyans to keep working for sustainable peace in their
communities and nation.
4. Express your dreams and hopes for Kenya in the future
HOW?
Call EASY FM at + 254 20 251964 and ask for Sam or Davis
DATE: Saturday, March 8th
TIME: 4pm to 8pm Nairobi time i.e.
– 8am-noon US Eastern time
– 5am-9am US Western time
– 1pm-5pm London time
|
Kenyan Blogs
People Magazine is so 2004
Potpourri
Stay Informed
|