Mwangy's Musings

Things As They Should Be

Moving Camp

Its been a nice ride with wordpress.com but alas man must live and growing up, sideways and laterally (are those the same?) is inevitable.

The good folks at kenic and eacdirectory are offering free .me.ke domains and free hosting and yours truly got himself a nice little spot at markmwangi.me.ke

Needless to say I graciously accepted the offer and have recently completed the move to my new domain.

Please follow me there as I will not be updating this blog anymore and will concentrate my efforts on my new site.

Its been real and see you on the other side!

THE GADDAFI NO ONE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT

This is a post borrowed from one Moreno K O'campo first published on Friday, October 21, 2011 at 1:13pm at an unknown platform but the information is the most shocking about Libyan life that I have read. Here it goes:

 

The media has successfully painted Gaddafi as a hard-core dictator, tyrant whatever you want to call him. However, the media as usual has also failed to show the kind, giving Gaddafi we never heard of. Gaddafi, unlike most dictators I will refrain from naming, managed to show his humane side, the very side we dream of seeing in other dictators who just talk and talk.

I consider Libyans lucky to a certain extent and one wonders with the new democratic rule they cry for will it improve or worsen life for them. Yes, Gaddafi spent millions of Libya`s money on personal ventures but is the average Libyan poor? We know others who take a country and destroy it until you feel like there is no hope of restoring this country… looting some prefer to call it. Did Gaddafi loot Libya in any way?

Now let us get to the unknown facts about the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi:

1. There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.

2. There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.

3. Home considered a human right in Libya – Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent.

4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.

5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%.

6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms – all for free.

7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance.

8. In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price.

9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.

10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally.

11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.

12. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.

13. A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000

14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15

15. 25% of Libyans have a university degree

16. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

Which other dictator has done much good to his people?

 

Al-Shaboo

I dont like bullies much , they tend to not be very smart or as tough as they imagine they are. The somali militia that go under the gangsta like name of al-shabab tend to act like a bunch of bullies that didnt get enough hugs from their mommas. They banned, radio, music, bras and samosas. Who bans samosas? 

Now the analyst in me doesnt buy the official story that goes something like this. The al-shabab are bloodthirsty mindless not so bright terrorists in somalia who effectively run the country. They are pirates, kidnappers, murderes, relief food thieves, rapists and die hard islamists to boot. Over the past 10years they have been attacking security installations on the Kenyan border without provocation and doing what they do best, terrorising the locals. And now they broke the camels back with the final straw by abducting a frenchwoman and a Spaniard. Kenyan military shot callers decided that declaring war on this menace is inevitable. This story makes sense on the surface. Slap me, step on my jays and disrespect my mother in that order and you would probably expect a punch will meet your face.

But the facts dont seem to add up. A walk through Eastleigh would explain why. Kenya is good for Somalia. We launder their pirate money, we have shariah compliant banks, the growing middle class consume wariah imported products like a nonsense, and we have two large refugee camps hosting their citizens. Now the media and the powers that be would have us believe that the mindless al shabab dont care about any of that and it may be true but I dont think so. If you have spent any time with somalis or those with afro-arabic persuasions then you know they are easily the most accomodating people so long as you respect their customs and values. 

Abducting foreign nationals would result in a military reaction. There is no other endgame seeing as there is no official government to negotiate with. Why a flimsy 'terrorist' network would want tanks and foreign troops on their soil hunting them down escapes me. And why attack the only neighbour that appears to want to help you out? Granted militias run by egomaniacs are not the most rational of bodies to look out for the interests of their citizens/dependants but they are not universally composed of estranged young men who think being shot or blown up is awesome. We have people with families and who dream of a better future. 

I think strings ropes are being pulled by someone more influential. Someone who has always wanted to invade somalia and is using Kenya as a proxy.

All that being said, frightening times ahead. We may start seeing suicide bombing in Nairobi if the al-shabab are going to make do on their threat. Maybe we should invite that swaggerefic dude back to perform, he may distract the youths being promised 7 virgins in heaven. 

Wangari Maathai

I avoid writing about personalities because I believe it is judgmental to claim to know what makes a person tick and to try to condense a persons actions, beliefs, and values into a couple of paragraphs. I don't think its fair unless its a factual piece so I do not do it. Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai definetely does not deserve my criticisms and/or judgement but such an extraordinary woman should be celebrated and this is how I will do it in digitalia.
Here was among the first breed of women in post colonial Kenya to grow balls and display them to the original bearers. It is something for a woman to be the first PHD holder in the region, get divorced and wage a war on land grabbing and forest conservation. Many parallels can be drawn between her and the recently deceased Steve Jobs. Both dedicated their lives to causes close to their hearts and as Steve jobs once explained, we spend most of our lives at work, so we might as well do something we love and that will make a difference. I believe heroes give up their lives for the good of many and this sacrifice is most felt by the family and close friends. Wangari is no exception seeing as the brutality metted on her by previous regimes must have taken a toll on the family but like any storm, it blew over.

Many of our so called leaders tread the well beaten path. Marry into a good family, got to church on Sunday, and smile for cameras. few decide to fight for something and stick to it for years. possibly leaders and politicians are not the same thing since what I have largely described are politicians. Maybe Wangari maathai was a leader just not one with official powers. 

As Kate Getao signs off on her column in the Saturday Nation magazine, Plant a tree this Week.

Bread in schools and Noneffective Motivation

If you went to the regular boarding schools upcountry like myself during your primary/high school life then I know one item that was close to your heart for the four years and after. Its an age old food that was eaten by everyone from Jesus to the Egyptians and Mwangi as he writes this. A loaf of bread is a universal language that any one who has been through our public school system can understand. At one of the reputable institutions that I passed through it even worked as a black market currency. Services and goods could be acquired for the right no. of slices of bread and the crust was the equivalent of the kirucy, prime currency. 

I imagine that schools are the largest consumers of bread and account for the largest market for bakers. For those who wonder why bread is placed on such an edifice while there was lunch n supper, they should eat a regular meal in an underfunded secondary school. There is a reason vegetables were called bitter herbs and Githeri was universally referred to as Murram. Bread on the other hand was tasty, filling, and had quality assurance. No brainer. Watching a couple of school kids the other day wolfing down a whole loaf of bread each and passing around a soda between the 3 of them took me back to a time when Break time, lunch time, and supper time were the hallmarks of m day. Our class time keeper didn't need to do his job since as soon as it hit 10AM a cup would be dropped in class at the precise time. that was enough signal for the Teacher boring us that concentration was from that point -70% . The same happened at lunch time where a spoon would be dropped and if the Teacher extended by a minute it would be an orchestra of spoons,cups and desks being adjusted. Stories of how glaciers created the fjords were really to distant to matter. 

These memories got me thinking that maybe the old school method of motivation and education was missing the bus with the kids at the center of attention. For kids in Rural areas where poverty levels are high, going to school is not about studying and passing exams to go to campus and become a hotshot lawyer and drive a big car. Its about getting Lunch. And for a kid that's all the motivation he needs. In my time to get us to master the times table, we were threatened with a world of hurt, violence of an order our young minds were terrified by. It worked only if the teacher had access to all of us and could shoot random questions but in a class of 40 I managed to coast for awhile till it brought me problems in maths a whole year later. If on the contrary we had been told whoever masters the times table will get chicken at lunch then that times table wont leave any kid even in the loo. Some of the smarter kids will master it and eat kuku and the envy towards them will push the whole class to master the times table in record time. No-one gets hurt and goals are accomplished.

An Aunt of mine told me a story that in her time at Ngandu Girls form 5 & 6 was so glamorous in that they wore different smarter uniforms, ate different food at an elevated position to the rest and had refined mannerisms. Now in the world of girls this was the place to be at and be seen. Never mind that you need to pass your o-levels very well. This was a small hurdle compared to being the envy of the village. Lofty tales of how you would be a doctor 10 years from now if you read hard are trounced easily by seeing your pal sinking his/her teeth in a juicy drumstick and looking hotter than you as you face another plate of Murram. Few kids (me included) have the patience and foresight to practice differed gratification and in my opinion this is where the educationists go wrong. They assume kids are rational human beings and refuse to manipulate them. A teacher at a primary school upcountry in a marginal area once told me that when the food shipment is late and there is no lunch at school for a few days, attendance drops to a trickle. Many parents send their kids to school because that becomes one less mouth to feed. As the kid waits for lunch, he learns cool stuff in science, reading, writing and some math. Win win. 

Instead of fighting it, why don't we use it? Instead of prosecuting parents who don't send their kids to school why not make it the best option there is? Feed and cloth the kids and parents will be more than happy to pack up all the kids and ship them to school. At school at least in the lower levels, show that excellence in class brings better food, status etc. I know some would say that it will breed elitists and discrimination but how is it different from the world we live in now?

Ordinary Kenyan

I have always wondered what this statement means.

I mean what constitutes normal? Hardship? Hunger? Enduring sense of hopelessness? Those with the sense that the system is taking advantage of them? Perennial rule breakers and late for everything including their weddings and funerals? 

There is nothing normal about anyone I know. We all have our eccentricities and very different economic capabilities which is the only difference that ever matters anyway. For the populace to agree to be clumped together into an amorphous mass with the unflattering label of ordinary, belittles them to the level of minions incapable of intelligent thought and analysis. This implies that they (politicians,journalists,leaders, clergy etc) are not ordinary, they subsist on different stuff, not Maize flour, they live in marble palaces not hovels next to the railway. And this difference must not escape the masses lest they forget their place. 

Such language should not be used and must actually be rejected outright. 

Xenophobia and how foreigners benefit the populace

Xenophobia according to wikipedia is defined as an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which foreign or strange. It is becoming rather prevalent around these parts of late what with the influx of refugees and all sorts of nationalities dropping in to do business. The general mood is that there is an invasion and is more or less unwelcome. But is it really that bad and are we really loosing our country to foreign nationals?

If you ask me we should embrace all manner folk with hues from pink to pale to charcoal black if we really want to develop.  If we observe the undisputed kings of business in the country it appears it is the 2nd and 3rd generation Asians more popularly known as kalasingas and wahindi by most folk. These are as foreign as they come and have taught the locals a thing or two about earning the daily bread. Though this is not based on any scientific study, I suggest that the business acumen attributed to the Kikuyu comunity is based on exposure to the Asians , proximity to the city and shrinking agricultural land in central province.  For a man to feed his family creativity in hustling for money is a must.

Most firms in industrial area are run by Asian families and I suspect they contribute the most in terms of taxes from SMEs  Save for their seemingly antisocial behaviour of hanging out at malls in the dead of night and rarely mingling with the masses their contribution to the economy and livelihoods of thousands of kenyans cannot be ignored. The same feat could not have been replicated by locals without foreign influence.  The USA is built on this single principle. Get as much foreign talent as possible to live in your country and afford them an opportunity to do whatsoever they want within the law.

Foreigners bring in a fresh perspective, fresh drive and  a whole new way of doing things. More often than not they are attracted by the resources they see to be underutilised and there is no way they can exploit the resources without directly or indirectly benefiting the local population.

The Somalis are another bunch that are giving the locals a run for their money on the business front.  What with buying up property like its mutumba high heels and even prompting major banks to setup shariah compliant banking. At the end of the day, all the property aqcuired and developed remains on kenyan soil and the Kenyan citizens whether directly or via the government are the major winners and stand to benefit the most.

I think we should take a chill pill and learn from those who know better, polish our game and maybe we may have a chance from the Amero-Chinese onslaught. It begins with observing what the foreigners are doing and more importantly understand why they do it.

Capish?

Ugalea

So there I was waiting impatiently in line to buy my supplies at the local shop back in my home townof Naromoru. Its a small sleepy town with nothing much to call home about and super boring to the nairobi types who look for olepolosish plans. We are getting tarmac within the town though so plus for development there.  . Anyhoo I was inline to get me some bread.  Not those brands like supaloaf that comes in polythene wrappers. I only do Broadways bread. Comes wrapped in paper , makes it look airy and the mass to moisture ratio is perfect in my books. Awesomeness defined.

Where was I. . .right the queue.  Now this is a regular upcountry joint and aside from most guys tucking in their trousers in their socks due to the mud outside there isnt much of a fashion statement to be expressed here.  Clothes are for warmth and covering the embarassing bits. Period.  As i said, nothing to call home about. Everyone knew the shopkeeper dude, including me. I forget his name though.  Infront of me was this guy narrating how the lean economic times had to make him creative to keep the family running. He narrated how nowadays the regular recipe for cooking ugali was so two thousand and late. The new improved way to get with the flactuatng schilling rate and rocketting cost of well just bout everything was to be down right inventive. As a result he has resorted to a new method of cooking ugali. First you more or less brew tea (minus the milk which is too expensive anyway) , sieve the tealeaves out , then cook ugali with what remains.  The result, which will be cristened ugalea , saves on cost, and incorporates the taste of tea right into the ugali which creates a ready to eat meal.

Now you need to hear that story told in Kikuyu because it sounds absolutely hilarious. Maybe I should ask  @wanjohidaily to do a spot on it. That incident made me think about how much we take things lying down. Purpoted leaders use public funds like some personal  kitty that they can raid at any time for anything from shuttle diplomacy in defence of perpetrators of ethnic cleansing to rearranging the budget so that monies reserved for emergencies,tragedies etc like the recent pipeline-fuel-slum fire fiasco to paying MP taxes and the most the public does is shake their heads very vigorously. Its actually comical. Just the other day the teachers had their way by simply saying enough is enough and telling the govt to go tell their crap to someone else.  That is how you get results. Quantitative action. Dont ask for what you want, take it.

Western govenments keep telling us how poor we are and assign us a label that they encourage us to use. We are called 3rd world countries, emerging markets, struggling this impoverished that, less than a dollar a day etc. . . 3rd world countries? Do we have 3 worlds? I think the colonial mindset hasnt reallly left but has been transmitted down generations and is currently manifesting in the twitter age where the idea of protest is confined to angry 140 character outbusts on a US based internet service by the tech savvy middle class youth.  The University Student unions are so compromised that strikes are called for very mundane and childish reasons and the officials are as clueless as the next guy as to what power they actually weild in being the official leaders of thousands of the leaders of tommorrow as is so commonly alleged.

We are fucked seeing as very few people my age bother to read non fictional books that seek to expound or explore long held beliefs whether in religion, pholosophy, psychology or history.  Twilight on the other hand flies off the shelves.  Am no judge but the type of material we consumes defines our foundations no?

But all is not gloom n doom,  the Eastern tiger economies are on the rebound and American power what with their impressive military budget and technology superiority is waning. This may be the opportunity to make hay while the sun shines, the sun being the rivalry between the east and the west.

 And Africa has lotsa hay, lets get to it. 

Download Rain Now!

I take great offence when taken for a complete moron especially by foreigners who think throwing around words like server and electromagnetic waves will throw me offguard and mesmerize me. Two australian guys were today on the news claiming they can control rain clouds using servers and beaming electromagnetic waves to the clouds and shepherd them like goats to the desert and make it rain there. All for 900 million bob.

 I have not heard so much crap since Zuma talking about taking a shower to get rid of AIDS. First of all why do such pseudoscientists get airtime on local TV? Is there no-one who did more than form 2 physics near the editorial team? 

Secondly why did they not approach the met department with their fancy tech? And 3rd, they have no affiliation to the australian authorities in charge of all things weather down south. fourth, the met dept has their own rain making scheme ongoing.

We were colonised once. That was daft of us. This is simply an insult. 

Half a billion Later. . .

As should be obvious to anyone who has read any kenyan news in recent times , raising money for the fake famine in turkana is all the rage.

Over the last week all the major telcos, blue chip companies and just about every other corporate taxpayer have been tripping over themselves to contribute their millions usually assigned to the CSR department to be handed over to the able hands of Abbas Gullet, the top honcho at Kenya's Redcross.

Abbas_gullet

Ofcourse this is a laudable effort but am not seeing a goal in all this.

The original goal was to collect 500 million Shillings for the 'crisis' in the north with the residents of Turkana, the land of the Jade sea, doing the ritual begging for food. Funny because there are guys in the same district with bumper harvests.

Anyhoo, the kenya redcross is buying unimix to feed the children and the frail women as emergency rations to keep them alive. Ok. So we need 500 million for that? I know auditing firms are going to be monitoring and will compile a report but I have to say money cannot lack a use. Give me a billion dollars and I will spend it in a week auditor or not.

Why is there no actual figure to be raised? I assume with modern tech we can have near realtime satellite imagery of the region, GPS handhelds for easy navigation and we have a rough figure of how many are actually in danger of malnutrition and ill health due to no access to food. So a concrete figure should be arrived at that will stave off the deaths and suffering. But now the consortium behind kenyans for kenyans wants to raise a billion shillings. For what? Are we just raising money because it is fashionable to do so and the faces of children crawling with flies is too realistic on our twitter timelines? 

How much do we really need?