Michael Ranneberger – US Ambassador to Kenya

Im not a fan of the US Ambassador, Michael Ranneberger or any ambassador from the European countries largely due to the fact that they are always telling us what to do. As a Kenyan I’m proud to be one, i pride myself in being one of the people who believes in home grown solutions to arising problems.

My logic is simple, there is no quick fix solution and if you read your history you will discover even first world countries have had their share of miss-steps as they grew to where they are now. I mean even now they are still making mistakes with decisions that they have entered without due thought. For the US i think the war in Iraq was one of those.

So we have bad leaders who should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and there doesn’t seem to be any political will to prosecute them but is denying or barring them from going to the US gonna help…at all? Why would i a Kenyan be so desperate to go to the US? I dont get it, what does the US have that we crave so much?

If it was me Mr Ambassador, denying me entry to the US wouldnt mean much after all i could go to any other country in the world and there many of those who dont need me to have a VISA. I keep wondering though if this kind of threats havent worked in other African countries, why would they work here?

Maybe i just dont like Ambassador’s much but then in my books, they haven’t earned the right to speak!!!

Friday morning Mombasa road traffic…

24 Nairobi

Some of us made the decision to live on the outskirts of the town as the air is much cleaner and the rents are generally quite affordable. That does constitute a longer drive to work every morning but with the upgrading of the highway the time spent in traffic has been reduced.

I use Mombasa Road every morning and the upgrade of the road from 2 lanes to 3 has really gone a long way to shorten traffic jams especially into town every morning. Unfortunately we Kenyans are still peculiar people as we still have matatu’s overlapping and crossing through 3 lanes as they near the round about.

I have a big issue though we the cops at the Nyayo Stadium round about. They insist if you are on the first lane your only option is going up Langata Road whereas i do remember from that lane offers you to option -straight on into town or up langata road. Is it that our traffic cops need to be re-educated on how to direct traffic and traffic rules 101?

As for the matatu’s who squeeze small salon cars to get into line, i cant wait to buy myself an SUV with big bullbars…

20 students get Swine Flu in Kenya

BY CATHERINE KARONG’O

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 17 – An outbreak of the highly contagious AH1N1 influenza virus has occurred at the Kenya High School with at least 20 new confirmed cases.

Public Health Minister Beth Mugo said on Thursday that the 20 girls had been put on treatment and were quarantined in school.

“We also have isolated the girls who have any existing conditions such as asthma and others who would be at high risk of contracting the disease,” the Minister said.

more on the story here

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/20-students-get-Swine-Flu-in-Kenya-5825.html

Goodbye Major General Ali – i for a fact will miss you

I do remember back in 2002 -2003 walking in town especially on Moi Avenue and Tom Mboya Street was very harzadous especially for a male Kenyan youth. In those days the Central Police Station black maria would be on hand to sweep you off your feet and freedom only came at a price commonly referred to as “Chai.”  I was fortunate to escape one or twice but i had friends who were not so lucky, who intimated it was better to have an encounter with thugs, since after you gave them what you had, they would leave you alone.

Fast forward to 2005, in my first job as i used to go visit a girl i liked in Ngumo. Due to the pressures of work and a not to healthy bank account the dates were always in the evening until about 10 pm when i would leave to catch a matatu to my Eastlands abode. The matatu would drop me at Kencom and i would have to cross between National Archives and Ambassedour to catch my matatu home. By then town was a different story, one where cops on patrol were there to provide security and prevent crime. I recall many a days having a cup of tea as the matatu was waiting for passengers in downtown Nairobi.

I do credit that to major General Ali who made Nairobi quite safe especially at night. In the run up to his replacement when everyone was baying for his head not even one person looked at the achievements he has had at the police force which are worth noting. Even civil society groups lead by Kenya Human Rights Commission could only talk about the bad thing, with one report after the other castigating the police. But for groups that are mean’t to be impartial they were rather silent when police were murdered in the hands of Mungiki.

As post election violence abated Major General Ali’s boys were there to help quel the violence as much as they are accused of excessive force. The buck unfortunately in this goes higher up to the different forces at the top who were instigating the violence, well known politicians. As a resident of Nairobi, Major General Ali has made the police force a better force than it was before and by and large has made Nairobi a safer city than it was before.

so to the nay sayers i say give credit where its due…i salute Major General Ali who didnt say much but got the job done.

Finally out MP’s work overtime, but still achieve nothing!!!

I really get amazed by our Kenyan MP’s who get all caught up in a frenzy on issues which i consider non issues. Well they weren’t consulted over Ringera’s reappointment, and why should they? I mean the power does rest with the President and its prerogative to do as he wishes. I think what the MP’s dont realize the Ringera issue was just a side show. In the 2 weeks they have been talking about Ringera the president has made changes to the police and arm twisted them to agree to the Mau Report.

I was really amazed at the fact they actually stayed quite late yesterday night in parliament in a bid to vote on the Ringera issue, which was quite refreshing counting they work for the shortest time daily and are paid alot of money. You wonder in what other organization where the accountant decides how much he should pay himself and how long he should work.

Im sorry but on this ones Kibaki has outplayed and out manouvered those individual 210 brains in parliament, and they are still non the wiser…maybe we should provide fund for a seminar titled for them Taking a long term view on  Political Strategy

Hague Express!!!

Finally Koffi Annan has handed over the envelope with the perpetrators of the post election violence to the Hague. In my opinion this should have been done on the day he actually got the list, and we get rid of all those perpetrators from our midst…

off to the Hague you go!!!

Well the ref – Parliamentary Speaker saves the day

One of the things i haven’t quite understood is what comes with the position of the chairmanship of the House Business Committee or the HBC as it is called. Yes its the right to conduct parliamentary business but what ever happened to servant leadership? Isnt the leadership of that particular committee in service of the Kenyan people?

Well the war played out on media quite did not add or remove anything from what Kenyans are experiencing. I do happen to think there are alot of other important issues to deal with and Parliament, the incessant political wrangles and lack of forsight.

On another note they had Martha Karua on air today morning during the big breakfast and it started by Caroline Mutoko making an apology for something which was said back in 2003 on air that consequently saw her sue the station.

Im getting to like Martha Karua more and more every day!!! and maybe she should be president in 2012. She does have the knowledge and will to pull back our country from the doldrums.

Migingo Island…what is the fuss about?

For the last week or so the hottest topic around has been about Migingo island a 1 acre rocky outcrop on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria. This one acre piece of rock has been the topic of everyone since the Ugandan goverment took over and hoisted thier flag on this island over a month ago.

There have been calls from the MP’s, Civil society and all manner of political leaders for our 2 principles to act fast and save our migingo islan from the expansionist strategists of the Ugandan president. Some stupid and thick headed Kibera youth went as far as uprooting the railway in Kibera!!!

Just last week the civil society was asking the President to act on the situation or be removed from office for not defending the territorial integrity of our nation. What rubbish!!!! we are ready to pick up arms to fight with a neighbouring country over a 1 acre piece of rock that no one knew existed 2 months back. I know thier are bigger pressing issues like hunger, disease, floods, roads bridges etc that would need to be addressed.

But hey no wonder our goverment is in such shamble, even the civil society who are mean’t to be policing the goverment have been sucked into this non existant conflict. And even when and if we ever get migingo back, what are we going to do with the island?  Nothing, nothin  at all…

Talk about totally misplaced priorities!!!!

Martha & Mungatana walk the talk…at least we have politicians who still have thier spines

So as of today we have one less minister and assistant minister following the resignations of Hon Martha Karua and Hon Mungatana both who are from Narc Kenya. I for one am glad that we have one less minister making our broad cabinet shrink,  just a bit. I respect Martha Karua alot she is an “iron lady” and more and more of the kind of autocratic leader that Kenya needs if we are to grow exponentially like the Asian Tigers. I respect her since she isnt a wishy washy politicians like the current crop of politicians we have from both PNU, ODM-K and ODM. I mean i really thought that Raila had what it took but a little bit of power has turned him into just another also run politician with nothing to offer and i frankly expect nothing from him.

So to the Iron Lady Martha Karua i give you the thumbs up for proving you are more than just another spineless politician

the Iron Lady

Raila and Kibaki fail to see eye to eye…at a 23 million shillings retreat!!

Well if any of the principles had bothered to check with me i would have advised them that spending 23 million for a retreat at the Kilanguni Serena Lodge in the Tsavo was not the very best way to sort out issues. To make matters worse they had to troop out there with their entourage…or should i say the political weights who make every decision a whole lot harder since they also want a say in every decision made.

So we have had a whole weekend of accusations and counter accusations from the 2 sides in the grand coalition. I dont believe either and my advice would be next time Kibaki and Raila should get at it alone so that sobreity can prevail, coz for as long as thier entourage is there with them, nothing will ever be achieved.

I totally agree with the sentiments of this blogger -

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein
==

it defies logic why these guys met at Kilanguni and why they or kenyans in general expected different results.

its the same people, same egotistic and intransigent mindsets buoyed by both a false sense of dominance and pompousness masking sheer arrogance and mindlessly selfish stupidity.

nothing has changed in the approach to national issues, the composition remains of the same group of hard nuts, so what different outcome was expected of the meeting? casting the net further, what different outcome are we supposed to expect of the GCG if they have determined to deliberately continue to pull in different directions all the time