War! What is it good for?

I’ve often laughed my fellow country men’s patriotism, first of all it seems that Kenya is a very unpatriotic country aside from the odd rhetoric (of saying “I’m patriotic”) and the harambee stars and Kenya rugby T-Shirts, there’s a distinct inability among many to talk positive about Kenya. If we were patriotic I suggest we’d have clear times when we circle the wagons and dedicate ourselves to matters greater than ourselves and our differences to the greater good of Kenya. Not to say the opportunities have been lacking, we’ve had a number, most recently Migingo and the Merile incursions. Our lack of patriotism in those cases may have been slightly advantageous to the government as they were able to seek out diplomatic solutions, but the aggressors never felt the threat that our government was holding back an angry and defiant people who jealously defended their territory. Kenya is by no means a big country; 1 hour in any direction on a jet engine plane will remove you from Kenyan territory. This is all we’ve got and we have to put a highest price on it, and it appears that we have with the recent military engagements in Somalia against Al Shabaab. In brief my opinion of the whole matter is doing the pursue up to the border and no further is it is myopic in the approach and plays in to the enemy’s hands, the enemy has no respect for the integrity of Kenyan soil in its operations, limiting our military to the border does little other than afford the enemy a tactical advantage. This situation is unlike the issue of Migingo and Merile there isn’t a government to engage in negotiation therefore the country was left with little option. But that’s beside the point, the greater issue here is how some have been proven wrong. In a recent editorial Charles Onyango-Obbo highlighted the difference between the Kenyan military and those of our neighbours which reminds us that in our own way Kenya is exceedingly capable militarily. As Kenyan we shouldn’t assume our government’s long standing policy of diplomacy first as a sign of inability; rather the fact that we have been successful enough diplomatically suggests we have enough to dissuade others from the viewing the military option as viable. The least we can do is to support the boots on the ground, they’re not the ones that make the decisions they are carrying out orders. Feel free to criticize the government but give your last ounce of support to the guys who are asked to put their lives on the line so that you can sit and talk, type and live your life as if nothing has changed other than the exchange rate.

Fake military historians have suddenly emerged and have been waxing lyrical about how the incursion against Al Shabaab is doomed to fail, or set to succeed because of what the US did in Somalia, or what happened in Afghanistan. Its simplistic to look at the global hegemon/superpower and mark military success based on their activity, without understanding various factors of military import such as objectives, geography and proximity to name a few. Tactically we’re also not sure if Kenya has gone to war as the Russians have in Chechnya or like the Americans in Vietnam. We don’t have a great view of our military tacticians’ plans and strategy, and we have a fairly mute Commander in Chief who probably isn’t going to announce a Linda Nchi version of the Tet offensive so it is imperative that our speculation is borne out of fact and not out of mere conjecture. What I do hope is that we’re going in a similar objective to the US in the first Gulf War (the one they won) to slap Al Shabaab hard in the face and remind them not to mess with us, then bring our heroes home. Frankly the TFG is weak, and even if Kenya could eliminate Al-Shabaab there’s still a power vacuum in Somalia, and till that is sorted out Al Shabaab or any radical Islamic element will always have a foothold. I also hope we are working hard to lobby Middle East to support this Jubaland proposal, I know the hegemons don’t like it, but selfishly I think having a peaceful semi-autonomous buffer between us will benefit the country on several levels.

Rule of Thirds

The 1/3 Minimum is one of those things in the constitution we didn’t really think out properly. The new constitution guarantees 1/3 of elective seats are reserved for women. This was a noble attempted at gender equality but fundamentally one of the most undemocratic clauses of the constitution particularly if implemented incorrectly.

General principles for the electoral system81. The electoral system shall comply with the following principles–

• not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender;-
  constitution of the Republic of Kenya
  

First I must note that I had serious reservations about this particular clause in the constitution, I just didn’t know how it was going to be done. Second it made the assumption that gender imbalance will always favour men, I wont be around in 500 years but I get the impression that in Kenya its going to be a woman’s world sooner rather than later. Kenyan women = very aggressive go getter types
I also have problems with top down affirmative action, I’d have rather had stronger policies that guarantee girls education and strengthened our education system to ensure that a girl can grow up to achieve any of her dreams. Political theory tells us that there’s a close link between political and economic empowerment. It is much more practical to focus on empowering women economically, which means our affirmative action interventions must begin at the lowest levels. The there’s a wealth of information on the open data which seems to suggest that there’s a significant drop in girls attending high school and again moving on to tertiary institutions. That’s where the problem lies with lack in terms of gender equality. (You can see this on the open data website here or if you’re lazy I can email you the nifty little charts I made looking this stuff up.) If we feel we need to have women in position of leadership we better increase the “pool” of electable women by making sure our girls are educated, further more to that we need women not just in school but studying the right things. (I’m for a national 5 year moratorium on B-Comm degrees) Much of the farming that’s done in Kenya is done by women (who stay at home on the farm) then why aren’t we encouraging women to study agriculture? If you doubt that just drive around and see how many men you see in farms or selling agricultural produce on the side of the road. Men may own the deeds to the land but women are doing the farming as much if not more than men.
There has been a suggestion (in order not to create a constitutional crisis) have suggested that we “reserve” certain posts on a rotational basis. So for example in the coming election (2012) Tigania west may be reserved so that women may stand. That presumes 2 important things, first there is no incumbency. As an male MP what would be my lot if when as an incumbent my constituency was up for women only leadership? It also assumes the electorate want to elect a woman, or that in actual fact a woman is best for that seat. For example what if Obama had to sit out his senate run because it was a woman’s turn? I think what Kenyan women want isn’t necessarily to have a percentage of women in leadership but rather leadership that effectively addresses their issues.
Being forced to vote of someone smacks of the “single party democracy” of the Kanu era, where the party told us where to put our votes. I’m offended I’ll vote for anybody who will take our country forward and nobody else. And this is something tribal chieftain type leaders would abuse to no end to consolidate a power base. What this would create I think would be a great number of women who are nothing more than “yes women” in parliament who are there to rubber-stamp whoever helped them in to power’s agenda. This would in turn engender a lack of confidence in women leaders undermining the whole system, setting women back politically much more than the current environment.
Anyway I’ve talked enough about the problem, so what is the solution: My idea is simple, (Let democracy do what it does) let the voters decide who is the best person for their constituency, be that a man or a woman. Create instead additional seats (this already exists in parilament through the “nominated MP” system) that are for the express purpose of meeting the 1/3 rule. If women are popularly elected they’d be one less available nomination seat. Divide these seats as percentages for each party based on election results. So for example if ODM was to win the most seats then the party chooses 30% of the nominated WMPs, PNU comes second gets 20% so on and so forth until every represented party (up to a certain threshold of course) gets a number of WMPs. If the 1/3 rule is met via popular election then there is no need for nominated WMPs (saving the country money). I really don’t see why such a system wouldn’t work at least in parliament and simmilar bodies (senate, councillors, etc) and wouldn’t be beneficial for Kenya. Nobody feels like anything is forced on them; You’ve given women an arena to cut their teeth politically (it’s a direct form of capacity building), and most of all you’ve averted a constitutional crisis. I think our solutions to constitutional problems must envision a future Kenya where certain issues may have been addressed by the social development of the country. The biggest weakness if find for our current constitution is that I feel that its too detailed to make sense in 400 years time where if Kenya still exists will be socially and developmentally different from the Kenya of today. It’s very much a document for today and the near future, so the solutions we develop must bear that in mind and correct it such that our descendants also benefit from it fully and live in a greater more prosperous country.
Alright that’s more than long enough for the twitter generation. Let me go hide because I know there’s going to be hate from many for me having the audacity to talk about women’s issues (again).

True Patriots vs the Blogosphere

Ok,
I’ve been simmering for a minute and decided to go ahead and look hypocritical and rant on the internet.
Kenyans! We have a beautiful country in so many ways. A look to our neigbours shows how blessed we really are, if you don’t believe it look at this! In Uganda when people threatened to protest the high cost of living the government response what to unleash the shield and truncheon. Ours faced with such a threat reacted by reducing duty on the most essentials (sorry folks petrol is not essential, however diesel and kerosene is critical) And it is my hope that more steps will be taken to shield us from the external factors creating inflationary pressure on our country. There are still criticisms of this government but this case was pretty impressive knowing the rate which government works.
However I have mad beef with the blogosphere- facebook-twitter “I’m mad at what the politicians are doing” crowd. First we and the government know for sure that that’s all they’ll do, create an angry facebook status. This is no Egypt people can be bought for cheap! The worst thing you can ask someone whose “arrived” is to get out of their vitz and be democratic. No democracy is not voting, that is a democratic process within the overarching system. I get mad frustrated when people somehow think I’m not being patriotic by refusing to vote at a general election but really it’s hardly my right if I didn’t even involve myself in other parts of democracy (and who’s to say I don’t love my country if I don’t believe in democracy anyway?). The FBTC (facebook twitter crowd) miss this and imagine that going to the ballot box on Election Day and voting somehow will propagate a free and fair system when in fact all it does is guarantee the corruption of the system. You leave the poor masses to make the decision for you and you’re shocked that the choices are not up to scratch. Let me put it like this; if you were babysitting a child and let them decide what they wanted for dinner, you can easily guess the choices the child will make; Chips, Pizza, Candy, all the above most of all no vegetables (YUCK!). However when it comes to our voting habits we do the same thing, we let the idle and uneducated chose the menu at the primary level, then come to the table to eat on election day feeling very democratic with our kenya rugby or harambee stars t-shirt and get "surprised" with what is on offer. Well truth is the collective stomach ache is your fault, you know better but haven’t done much beyond a bird song about it. You want change; blast your MP’s mail box with letters. If you want our politics to become issues based, join an issues based pressure group and bother your representative. If you want the IDPs to be resettled stop saying “Kenyatta has land” and shame the government in to doing something. Ultimately the failure of Kenya will be in the fact that those who could (ie middle class…and if you’re reading this you’re there!) did nothing while the rich manipulated the poor for their ends.
I keep hearing the mantra that somewhere in Kenya there’s a leader who will bring us out of all this; the Moses of Kenya, lol What we don’t realize is Moses was created by God, He learned to govern in the house of pharaoh and Jethro, both as a political and spiritual leader…lesson here we still need the institutions to bring up that so called Moses, are your angry tweets and status updates going to do that?
Like I said I’m about to look like a hypocrite but #justsayin true patriots are the cats out there doing it, the rest of us need to stop stepping in their shine and shut up or back up our anger with action.

Spot whats wrong with this picture

This video is like a spot whats wrong with this picture quiz.
Untrained policemen, unconcerned citizens...list goes on!

Peter who?

What ever happened to the phrase never trust a man with two first names? But here we are looking at a dude supposed to be Kenya's next great hope (according to the Americans...or so i hear) Peter Kenneth star is quickly rising in Kenyan politics, but personally i don't know who the dude is?
So i bumped into the guy's facebook fan page, and it has every appearance of someone about to make a run for the big office or a big office, except a few critical things. Other than a few #iuseobama'sspeechwriter comments i don't know about this dude. I'm not being disparaging in anyway but really if this is the guy us "youths" (by the way the plural of youth is youth!) are meant to be rallying behind It would be nice for us to have an idea of who you are. Get online get your message out there, now contrast with Najib Balala's website, who has a glossy website has the look of someone who is trying to get us all to imagine he's a future president, DUDE you can even download his vision brochure! I don't know the use of such a thing but its there. Uhuru Kenyatta is another example, UK's facebook page is a slick "look how hard i'm working" piece that has tons of pictures with him doing his daily thing, you can see a brief of what he's done in his public life...Basically well managed by a publicist who knows what he's doing.

So i honestly don't know why I care, other than to say the dude needs a publicist, now back to the regularly scheduled programme in Deux président Côte-d'Ivoire