Kenya (catch all)

[Stan]

Perhaps this is bigger than the newspapers are letting on.

There's a decent blog at Allafrica from locals and expats. Adds that typical missing element from news reports.

Like many Kenyans I watched with disbelief as my country slide into violence in the past week. One thing that shocked everyone was the speed at which things escalated.

If you had told anyone one week ago as they stood in those long lines to vote that just seven days later the country would reeling from being plunged into violence, supermarkets would be forced to shut and there would be long queues for basics such as bread...

...that a church with mainly women and children would be burnt to the ground killing around 30, most people would have thought you were mad.

So what are people doing? One important thing to repeat is that no one expected this and therefore, understandably, no one had a contingency plan in place for the country going up in flames. However, once the shock subsided, Kenyans swung into action.

However, there was one big problem, communication. The severe lack of mobile phone airtime vouchers meant that information could not flow up from the ground. Many of us in Nairobi and other urban areas were running around looking for airtime vouchers which we can send directly to another mobile phone enabling them to make calls and send text. Another problem was that as these CBOs are, as the name suggests, embedded in their community, many of them were caught up in the violence and were displaced themselves.

[Jedburgh]

CSIS, 8 Jan 08: Kenya in Crisis

.....The way out of the crisis will ultimately depend on Kenya’s political class recognizing what civil society and the diplomatic community has made clear—that Kenya is indeed at the proverbial fork in the road. One fork leads to continued chaos and the loss of much of what the country has gained since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992, and especially since the end of the Moi regime in 2002. The other fork leads to the consolidation of democracy, renewed economic development, and the continued emergence of Kenya as arguably the most significant country in Africa after South Africa and possibly Nigeria. As the anchor state of the region of greater Eastern Africa, Kenya matters. A stable and prosperous Kenya raises the prospects for peace and development in Uganda, Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and southern Sudan. Kenyans are being tested to the limit by the current crisis, yet if a deal can be reached, including with minimal constitutional reforms, Kenyans may in 10 years look back on the events of the first week of January 2008 as the time when their country turned the corner and became an example for the rest of Africa.

[Barnsley]

I have to disagree with the basic assertion that the crisis in Kenya is simply the result of tribalism and corrupt politics. They are key factors and precipitated the current social unrest. However, there are far more fundamental and intractable issues at play and we over-simplify the debate at our peril.

I have read quite a few pieces on the crisis in the international media, particularly the NYT and WP. I have found them all wanting.

I suggest a visit to Richard Dowden at the Royal African Society's website, http://www.royalafricansociety.org/

But I have been most impressed by an excellent Op-Ed piece in 08 Jan The Nation, a Kenyan daily newspaper. It is at http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynati...&newsid=114132

Like the author of the op-ed piece, Macharia Gaitho, I am not surprised at the crisis in Kenya, it's been a long time coming, but the factors have been in place for many years. What we are witnessing is a concatenation of events, most beyond the control of Kibaki, Odinga or any current leader. If anyone is interested to know on what authority I speak and to read my argument in its entirety, it is laid out at my overly-pretentious and painfully wordy blogsite Mars and Aesculapius, Kleptocracy in Crisis.

I am happy to defend my position with anyone who reads this and takes issue with all or part.

[Stan]

Hey Barnsley,

I have to disagree with the basic assertion that the crisis in Kenya is simply the result of tribalism and corrupt politics. They are key factors and precipitated the current social unrest...

...I am not surprised at the crisis in Kenya, it's been a long time coming, but the factors have been in place for many years. What we are witnessing is a concatenation of events, most beyond the control of Kibaki, Odinga or any current leader.

Welcome to the SWC ! Thanks for the links and your versions. They will lend to broader discussions in the Africa thread.

If anyone is interested to know on what authority I speak and to read my argument in its entirety, it is laid out at my overly-pretentious and painfully wordy blogsite Mars and Aesculapius Kleptocracy in Crisis[/URL].

Well..That's indeed a bold first post

Taking a quick gander at your User Profile certainly leaves a lot in question. I'd recommend going here and introducing yourself versus asking Council Members to visit your blog. Perhaps once we've been sufficiently smothered in discussion, we'll gain an appreciation for your advice and experience.

Regards, Stan

[Barnsley]

Well done Stan!
I take your point
you may have gathered
that I am pretty inexperienced in the blogosphere
but am keen to learn
Its 6pm here in Lira northern uganda
red hot and time for me to cook dinner
I will get around to
elaborating on my Kenya argument later
I gather its freezing in the US
Gosh! I miss it!!
bob

[Stan]

Well done Stan!
I take your point you may have gathered that I am pretty inexperienced in the blogosphere but am keen to learn Its 6pm here in Lira northern uganda red hot and time for me to cook dinner I will get around to elaborating on my Kenya argument later I gather its freezing in the US Gosh! I miss it!!
bob

Bob,
All I asked you to do was respect the members herein and provide an otherwise simple introduction. I did not read your blog, but did scan your links.

I spent more than a decade working in Sub-Sahara (7 countries). BTW, I live in Estonia (it says so right under my picture) and it's 1843 and fairly colder than Uganda

As time permits you, please introduce yourself.

Regards, Stan