Kenya Imagine

  • Break down the barricades

    Posted: August 30, 2008, 4:32 pm
    I have lots of questions. Lately I have been wondering why it is that post-electoral violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe gets more attention than the continuing violence in Somalia or the Niger Delta.

    This is all the more strange if we consider that historically, politically and socio-economically the Niger Delta and Somalia could serve as a metaphor for Africa’s predicament. If we get the Niger Delta or Somalia right, we can get Africa right. Fail them and we fail Africa.

    Read more from Mukoma wa Ngugi here.

  • imagine diaries

    Posted: August 30, 2008, 4:21 pm
    This week on the kenyaImagine blogs:

  • Dedan Kimathi and Me

    Posted: August 27, 2008, 6:58 am
    In the first instalment of a series, Peter Swan recalls his service at an exciting time in Kenya's history.

    Background.

    Brought up a Catholic, my childhood was disrupted when two of my school years were spent evacuated away from city life in London to rural Newton Abbot in the County of Devonshire. My Christian upbringing continued, installing the belief that God monitored my every action, including my thoughts. Schooling in those days also emphasized the fact that the sun always shone on the British Empire.

    Read more here.

  • imagine diaries

    Posted: August 23, 2008, 9:25 pm
    This week on kenyaImagine blogs
    • Doomsday prophecy or prediction? (Georgian guide stones)
      I was on my usual quest to find something, anything that satisfies my constant thirst and curiosity for knowledge. I had studied Statistics for hours and needed a break... thats how I came across this information about the Georgia Guide Stones.
    • Olympics: nation switchers
      It looks like it's not only Kenyans switching teams for better pasture. For Kenyans, it has mostly been for monetary compensation.
    • Nigerian man to kick "82 of his women" out in the cold
      I was amused the other day when I heard the story of an 84 year old Nigerian man who has 86 women for wives. This is just a staggering number! Wait, that's not all. The story went on to say that he has at least 170 children!!

  • Judges Should Sign Performance Contracts

    Posted: August 23, 2008, 9:22 pm

    Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Justice Minister Martha Karua insist that judges and magistrates should sign performance contracts whereas the Chief Justice Evans Gicheru and other senior members of the bench contend that such a move will undermine judicial independence in Kenya.

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    The spirited opposition to performance contracting by the Chief Justice and his colleagues displays a lack of conceptual understanding of the process. A performance contract is basically an agreement involving the government and a state entity which outlines the broad objectives for that entity, lays down goals for quantifying productivity, and offers incentives for accomplishing these targets. Judicial independence is a legal dictum; it warrants that the decisions of the judiciary are impartial and exempt from manipulation by the other arms of government or by private and political interests.

    Read more.

  • The Psyche of a Kenyan Police Officer

    Posted: August 23, 2008, 9:12 pm
    The average police officer's job requires that he makes instant street decisions of the wisest and least provocative caliber yet he was not tested for emotional stability before joining the force. He has an ambivalent view of his work and often regrets joining the force.

    He feels that he is only a cog in a machine. He believes that much of the public regards him with contempt and hostility. Attitude samplings show too, that he is prejudiced against women, youth and low income earners. He has little appreciation of the psychology and culture of these populations. He is aware that fellow officers often treat citizens with rudeness, abuse and even roughness.

    Read more.

  • Abseiling in Swaziland

    Posted: August 20, 2008, 9:07 am
    A few weeks ago, I went to Swaziland. While there, I went abseiling, a great sport where one climbs down a rope in rock climbing. The view from the top was breathtaking as it was scary. However, I made it to the bottom!

    pictures here.

  • The shame of the Rift Valley Railways deal

    Posted: August 20, 2008, 4:34 am

    We have complained in these pages about the bad job the IFC did as a transactional advisor on the RVR deal that put Sheltam and other partners in charge of running the Kenya-Uganda Railway.

    Much of the trouble stems from Sheltam's lack of experience running a logistics business. The rail business is complex. Kenya Railways needed a big capital injection to strategize and execute a plan that would rapidly increase efficiency and make rail travel an enjoyable experience for cargo forwaders and consumers. Of course, executing such a strategy would have meant undertaking new projects that required a change of train carriers; I would be surprised if the deal was silent on getting the rail gauge right. To have a company that used to sell railway spare parts in South Africa as the lead stake-holder - its CEO running a complex railway network with no money, but hoping to bootstrap from its operations - is, in this situation, not really a good idea.

    Read more from Peter Ndiangui here.

  • go Kenya go!

    Posted: August 19, 2008, 1:19 am
    Congrats to our Olympics team, particularly Pamela Jelimo for her gold, and for being the first Kenyan woman to take win a gold medal at the Olympics.

  • trouble in the caucuses

    Posted: August 19, 2008, 12:30 am
    Last week, international attention shifted focus from the excitement of the Beijing Olympics to yet another troubled dispute in the caucuses region.

    The de facto- independent regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia , both landlocked in the Georgian state, have continually pursued the dreams of independence from Georgian, since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    Read more from Nisha Fakir.

  • failing management in Kenyan schools

    Posted: August 15, 2008, 12:11 am
    The recent spate of violent strikes in public secondary schools brings into sharp focus the role of Ministry of Education in the management of Kenya's public education system. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Management is the art of getting people together to accomplish desired goals through planning, organizing, sourcing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Education management attends to strategies that keep education resources current and accessible; it ensures that people have the most recent and suitable education to do their work.

    Read more from Capt. Collins Wanderi Munyiri here.

  • imagine diaries

    Posted: August 15, 2008, 11:24 pm
    Read our latest diaries here.

  • Once Upon A Time... .

    Posted: August 1, 2008, 5:49 pm
    Once upon a time, death and dying made sense, you died because you were old, you died because some lunatic ran a red light, you died because a snake bit you, you died because your heart arrested. People died in a myriad of ways and obituaries made for an interesting read...

    Dorothy Ghettuba blogs from New Mexico where she is attending this years AIDS conference. Read more. And you can RSS to her blog so that you are notified anytime she makes a new entry!

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Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes

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