A weekend with K'Ogalo

I learnt the other day that you can sell almost anything provided you were sufficiently (philanthropic? lol ) no sufficiently passionate about it. One other thing that I was disabused off when i was young was watching football 'live' in a stadium especially if that football involved a team called Gor Mahia. Our abode (lol) in Kisumu was only just about 500 meters from the stadium and from our house I could make out the goings on. The problem with Gor and their fans was that they would stone the opposing fans whether they won or not. especially if those fans were Ingwe fans. But it has been argued that the rivalry was good for football. Even those days when Gor won, us little children we would get sweets from total strangers just in perfect mood.

But I  would only 'watch' from the safety of  the radio. However this recent past my good natured neighbor has been selling to me the idea of watching the once great team under flood lights 'mwomo timbe'. I have been escaping with some strong excuses but the other Saturday when K'Ogalo was playing relegation bound KCB I had ran out of options or maybe I just had to succumb to the steady persuasion of the passionate fan.

The fees for the VIP area was only 200, stands were going for 100 shillings each. Inside a small crowd had started gathering. The Gor match was still one and half hours away. Ulinzi, the current league leaders were in the pitch with Mahakama but the Gor fans were all over singing their hearts of for Gor. when the players finally came there was simply a rapture. songs and ululations and the annoying vuvuzela. whoever invented that horn should be expunged from the face of the earth and even history.

The songs were simply hilarious but the goals refused to come. And I told myself it could be because the fans had mostly corrupted nice God songs into support songs with very dirty lyrics. As the match wore on they started losing their patience and you could hear shouts at the coach, the players the ref etc. I wished they would score  just to see how the fans would react. The god of football did finally smile and they scored through a penalty. The frenzy, the celebration, the shouts, the dance the songs! but ouch the vuvuzelas! From there I too joined the dances coz they became too moving to resist!
The match ended 2-0 in their favor but still Ulinzi was 3 comfortable points ahead. However from the party in the stadium I told myself that such a weekend was worth repeating.

Just an observation, there seemed to be quite a sizeable number of dark Gor fans holding hands of extra light (white) mzungu girls there.

Kenya Against the Norm!

Quite a number of things have been going against the norm or the accepted these recent days in this beloved Kenya. It started with the pre-promulgation era(now those are the kind of words you need to take with water!)

To start with heavy campaigns were carried out in this country for the first time in as many years without Raila's heavy presence and it was  instead the  soft general who shed all colors and shocked, like the our dailies said, both friend and foe. Then Kenyans went ahead and voted peacefully everywhere another first since my high school days. Another change was the church being defeated in Kenya for the first time in known history.

Thats history now anyway. Last week more shocks came and for me what stood out was the statistic showing that indeed women and men are at 1:1 in the country. To be honest I find that hard to believe coz if that were true then how come more and more women are agreeing to help men cheat on their fellow women. For cases of single women hooking up with married men is really on the rise and I fail to understand why if there are enough men to go round!

And indeed Pastor Ojigbani's ministry for marriage effortlessly is unique and creative. I have been watching his late night TV shows on this for sometime but I never imagined our Kenyan women would be so enthusiastic about his crusade.

Back to the Kenyan political scene and the absence of war of words, I guess the war between Zain (or sen and most of my relatives call it) and Safaricom has filled the void. People can still enjoy the show. But Zain's approach is a funny one. For them they dont care if they lose as long as Safaricom doesn't win. Basically what they want to do is disrupt the game so that the industry starts afresh. its like when you see you are losing a football match, your fans then throw in all manner of debri until the ref calls off the match for a reschedule. that way your luck or strategy starts afresh. But the mentality of I win or they lose is not really new wasn't it is the same that motivated our very own Melon Musyoka. Insisting that if he lost then his nemesis must also lose. we all know the consequences of 2007.

And what of the realization that Kibera isn't the largest slum in the world after all? if fact it may not even the largest in Nairobi, leave alone Kenya after next year. Indeed Kibera only has about 270K people while the word out there with the donors is that 2 million people eke it out in this place. But I have always wondered that if the whole of Nairobi before this census results was said to hold just above 2 million, did it mean that the rest of the Nairobi population were less than 1 million. and mind you some of those 270K people in Kibera actually dont live in the 'slum Kibera'

NGOs will have to go back and draw on the proverbial board else I see whole careers ending!

What A Mean Cup Finals!

Is it just me or is this world cup really really mean?! After 10 games only one has produced 4 goals yawa. Even teams that were hitherto unknown are claiming their single goal thing and every turn is a boring 1-1 draw or kaf draw. something needs to be done. maybe the vuvus must just be stopped.

But even as goal drought persists in the south, back home I must pass my deepest empathy and condolences to those who lost their lives at Uhuru park last Sunday. I know that even if the perpetrators are brought to book, the loss cannot be compensated but my prayers for you and your families.

Kudos Safaricom Captain

Who am I not to offer a word of congratulations to the Safaricom Chief for increasing his companies market share in spite of the tough economic environment and stiff competition from 3 other global players. Indeed the staff and partners too deserve a big pat on the back! The results are indeed superb.

I must also hasten to add a pat on the Govts back for back pedaling on the punitive regulation it had introduced earlier. Indeed that regulation was as peculiar as other Kenyan habits that Mr. Joseph alluded to during his live presentation of annual returns yesterday morning. In Kenya somehow when you work hard and make money, you are forced to be apologetic about it. Kenyans encourage modesty and humility with a zeal bordering on the bizarre. If you are doing too well you must not say it and you must not show it. Thats why some friends of mine strip themselves of their nice clad when going to the villages for a visit. Some who drive strong cars even decide to take added risk by travelling by old rickety buses. Just to try and conform to a life of averages. I even know of a friend who is doing really well by any standards making close to a million a month in legit business but would not be caught dead in a luxury car. He would rather drive an old beaten B12 in order to 'fit in'

And this peculiar behavior doesn't stop with the mortals. Recently our local church has announced a new requirement by his Eminence John Cardinal Njue dividing the church in Nairobi into 3 classes. Those in class A will be required to submit to him 2 million shillings each year since their parishioners are rich. Those in class B will submit 1 million and those in the C class will be required to submit half M. And this is on top of the normal tithe and sadaka! Tell me if thats not punishing those who are struggling to raise their heads above the average!

Baffling Scenario

After about 4 weeks working with wazungus here in England, (majuu like my gud nephew calls it) I keep on wondering how it is that their life and cities are way more advanced. It would appear to me that they dont do half as much as we do back at home. Their work day starts at 9AM at which time they line up for coffee anyway. Then most of the morning is spent between coffee points and desk and snacking (why must they eat so frequently?!) 12 noon on the dot they are already heading to the cafeteria and if you go at that time you find it very packed. The afternoon is shorter and at 5pm they are all leaving for home!
What I even found most shocking was that most dont report on Fridays when they say they would be working from home. This at a time when we are supposed to be finalizing on a major project!

Where I work we start at 8 officially but most of us often report by 7:15 owing to the traffic anyway. Leaving is normally officially 5pm but your manager and most other people will be looking at you strangely if you dare leave at that time. Average home time is normally 6 going 7 and when there is a major project like this one then midnight does it for you and your weekends are all in custody!

How then is it possible for the standard of living to be this good? My colleague reckons it has everything to do with slave trade!

This Draft Thing ...

After 20 years of waiting and several billions of shillings, death, pain, hatred, disunity I must say that am rather dispointed at what has been presented as the draft law to govern us into prosperity. However, I may just be willing to let it go. If someone was using that trick to wear me out into submission, then he must have succeeded big time with me.

But recently I have found another good reason to support the draft. Maybe I just want it to spite the religious leaders. I feel bad each time they comment on anything about governance. I feel the same contempt for them that I feel each time the former HoS Daniel Moi opens his mouth to comment on the affairs of Kenya. I have argued that the man who had more than 32 years of top leadership has no business telling us what to do after having messed us so much.

I still hold that the religious leaders long lost their moral high ground to tell anyone anything about governance. for starters, The Catholic church celebrated a century of existence in Kenya way back in 1990, thats 20 years ago. I dont know how long the Anglican church has been around and even the Muslims. But in all those years, they failed to teach their faithful the one fundamental tenet of their faiths. The one of loving each other as self and loving the stranger. Whats more , they became totally docile after 2002 elections.

However the biggest bone that I pick with this group of men and women is how they watched us as we slaughtered and barbecued each other in 2008! All the senior politicians in this country profess some sort of religious affinity. How was it possible for them to get to where we got in 2008 and their spiritual leaders to keep mum? As things are now, I fail to be convinced that a life saving abortion  would be more lethal than pure hatred and tribalism which has a stranglehold over Kenyans. I equally fail to see how Kadhis courts would cause more harm than the crime of omission these men and women collectively committed against Kenyans for these decades.

Of Success ...

Last Saturday, we held the 10th Annual General Meeting of our Savings and Credit Society where we announced among other things a 47% rise in revenue, 37% rise in net profits, deposits up 36% healthy cash flow etc. It was also the first time we invited the minister for CD&M to grace the occasion. what made it easy was his comical speech and his ease with everyone. He started by getting up to serve himself lunch instead for sitting back and enjoying our serving.

The day was full of comedy really. first, I found out that when the man came there was supposed to be a protocol of greeting the man and his entourage. Then there was the sitting arrangement. With an elaborate format on who sits on his left and who sits on his right, then who and who. I mixed that all up. But I must thank his able officers from the ministry for sorting out that. Even when delivering the speech, there is a protocol of recognizing the people in attendance. o boy! Well after mixing up the protocol when I went to do my speech and in the processes sweating profusely (I had to keep the coat on even though the sun was unforgiving that day) I thought it was only fair to reward my good old self. First I took those great men and women who worked with me in the past year to a sumptuous dinner at a top city restaurant then I told my self. self, your time has come to take it easy and thank yourself for a job well done. I therefore tossed the coin to decide where to take a jig. Anyway the coin wasn't even needed coz I was going to join my friend on langata road anyway. A new young artist was entertaining.

The rookie was belting real good rumba tunes but what stood out was 'nya sakwa'. one of the most romantic luo songs yet. Each time he sung it, couples jumped onto the floor in tight embrace rhythmically swaying to the slow beats. Those of us who hadn't carried their significant others along were left waving in the air in an apparent submission to the most powerful emotion known to man (and woman) it was difficult to know what the song had. was it the powerful words, the sweet strum of the guitar, the melodious drumming or just the god of music?

The gentleman John Junior is actually my cousin's cousin which by extension makes him my cousin but the word cousin only translates to 'owadwa' which means my brother therefore the man is actually my bro! Success begets relatives

A little lip on the 'Crisis'

A lot has been said, a lot remains unsaid about the current 'crisis' in our coalition government. I must also claim my lip rights to mouth what my mind tells me.

Question is, why has Raila all of a sudden decided in the view of most Kenyans to take a rope and commit political suicide? First with the mau issue and now with maize and school fees issue? Why is he playing into the hands of his enemies? why when in fact a by election looms large?

My mind tells me that a number of people in 2007 could have voted one Mr. Raila Amolo Odinga as president due to his tribe but a big number could have voted him due to good old hope. Hope that his consistency in fighting various ills in society could be used to finally right the many wrongs. I am persuaded that there were a number of Kenyans who voted Raila in for being Raila and being Raila in their minds meant being right and firm.

But in the last 2 years since he shared power with Kibaki, has Raila been Raila? not really. He tried to play siasa. Doing a number of things to please his key accounts namely the Rutos of this world.

It seems clear that all of a sudden Raila has now woken up from the slumber and realized that for his own sake and for the sake of the country , he needs to be Raila. He needs to give to the country that which his personality promised. Meaning good governance at all costs to him. He has decided to be himself. And thats why I dont agree with Mutahi Ngunyi who reckons that Raila played into Kibakis bait. First I dont believe Kibaki is that sharp. If he were he would not have lost the referendum and subsequent general election with all those resources he had. I mean honestly for one he was a head of state and government controlling vast resources and a corrupt provincial administration together with the police force. Then secondly he was being backed by the most populous and most wealthy tribe in the nation. He was up against a person on the exact opposite of the social spectrum. He should not have lost this leave alone tie and take us through the painful experience of 2007. For that matter I dont buy the Kibaki brilliance theory of Ngunyi.

In any case, my mind tells me that its Kibaki who played into Raila's bait and rushed to squash his decision thus giving himself up to everyone as to who was the corrupt principal. Talk of hook , line and sinker.

But my good friend jakondiek is a worried man, being a blood supporter of Raila he wonders whether the man will survive this and I tell him, I dont know but what I know is that the man seems to emerge stronger from every crisis. Probably only Raila knows what it means to be Raila so time will tell.

If Q Could Change...

It was in November 2008 when I blogged here about my Arduous argument with Q. Wow time does fly! I remember leaving that debate really feeling low, tired and wasted. I remember bloggers giving me encouragement and reinforcing my stand and points. Well just about 16 months later, I met Mr. Q again. his circumstances have changed greatly. For one, he got promoted and now heads a very strategic department in his company. His company is leading in the service industry in the region. Mr. Q sat me down and told me how his work has become almost impossible to do.

Somehow those things I told him that fateful November touched his intellect as he put it. He describes it as 'The Moment'. He changed his ways of doing things and vowed to work things professionally and in a clean manner. And that is what has caused him all manner of problems. He has been exposed to long running and complex corruption chains some so entangled that he finds he is man island of sorts in a sea full of sharks. For every deal he stumbles upon and tries to correct, he gets several smses some friendly and offering goodies while some being hard core threats. I had no words for my convert but I learnt that indeed you should never underrate what you believe in. Whether someone tries to bring you down just tell them. I was actually shocked that while I thought I had lost the argument that November, my words had somehow found some soft landing in him and converted him. Now even when he sat across from me telling me about his hard times with corruption cells in his company he was asserting that he will not compromise his principles. He was telling me of how many such cells he had already dismantled and I was nodding inside me and smiling happily.

But broadly speaking in this country corruption and disrespect for other peoples property is almost as ingrained as a culture. Its almost a given concept that if no one is looking, you are welcome to grab and plunder to your fill. When a few guys like Ongeri and Karega are unlucky or stupid enough to be caught every one else goes for their necks yet the bottom line is simple and straight forward: Just let us respect and accept what does not lawfully belong to us.

mwakweres exit

Wow. the reaction to the news of Mwakwere's lose of the matuga parliamentary seat is overwhelming. Does it mean the man was this unpopular?

What is going on?

Today the often funny discussions on radio caught my attention. A man with a strangely deep voice called in to say he was in deep distress. on prodding, he said that the issue was that 1. he was married 2. He was having extra marital affair with 15 other women. however his biggest problem was that of these 15, 13 are married with children!

He really sounded like a man in distress and intimated that he had tried in vain to change his ways to no success and he wanted help. But pray 15? whats more, he claimed that he never looks for these women. they come after him and he is too weak to resist. Which brings to light the stories they have been on and on about this week about women having gone on the overdrive and turned to be the hunters instead of the hunted. A number of them are calling in the radio stations to proudly talk about how they are cheating on their husbands with their cousins, friends workers etc. Which gives credence to that Jimmy Gathu campaign about mpango wa kando. And me am just left wondering for the life of me what has suddenly gotten to the fairer species. the angels are fast becoming devils what will the devils be?

Identity Theft; Buyer Beware

The runaway success of the M-PESA money transfer product of Safaricom has brought to Kenya what has hitherto been a story only heard of in the developed economies. That of theft of identity. Right now con men and women have decided to go a notch higher and have abandoned their infamous but highly successful fraud call telling you that you have won 300,000 shillings in some fictitious tambua ushinde promotion. (even though you never participated) Right now, they simply steal your identity. Most victims are being called and asked to give away their information like PIN number, frequently called numbers, and even M-PESA balance. How it works is that these guys most times stand over your shoulder when you are either depositing or registering and note the number, ID etc of either you or the person you are sending to. They then call you up pretending to be calling from Safaricom. Of course when someone calls you by your full names, gives you the exact time you made a transaction plus your national ID, you are bound to trust him when he tells you that he needs your PIN to be able to fix an issue with your transaction. When you do that he simply swaps off your simcard and takes over your phone and therefore your account.

And they are becoming more and more aggressive and heartless. Last Monday I got a call from one such fraudster who told me that a relative of mine had been involved in an accident near Nakuru and needed urgent help. He said that he needed airtime urgently to make calls. He wanted it quickly since he was on his way to the hospital with the said relative. The man was not giving me time to ask questions. only saying 'wewe unanisumbua na maswali na mtu wenu amepata ajali mbaya'. The rain only started beating his plan with me when I failed to place the name of the person in question and again when he said they were in the same private vehicle from Eldoret. They were only the two of them, yet he could not describe the said patient!

Bottom line things are bad, fraudsters are sharper, and you just need to learn to fly without perching

Heart Wrenching

My good nephew the King sent me a number of pictures two weeks ago. I have struggled to keep my eyes open any time time I look at them. There were only a few I could and decided to share them with you. I must warn though that they are not for the faint hearted however sharing them is the only good way to make known to the world the true state of affairs in Sudan.

Its clear that that the north controlled government of Sudan is hell bent upon trying to annihilate the poor south. My teacher for history told us in form one about two decades ago that annihilation was a folly. History has shown that it never works and has never worked. Hitler did bizare things to the non-aryans in the last century. But he never came close to succeeding in stoping the estropiés leave alone the jews.

These photos further remind us that people haven't learnt from history and that they still believe that their life is better off if they were alone in this world. Contrary to this fact we all know that human is social and if you were left alone with all the music, with all the gold with all the land, forests, oil and the like they would simply not make any sense until someone else was available to either buy them or share them with you. For us Kenyans, we must prevent this from happening to us.

Of Safaricom and Revisions

The current rally of the Safaricom shares has reminded me of the adage that all men are equal by their greed. Over the past one year I have been consoling and encouraging and sometimes dissuading many of my friends who had taken loans to buy the stock. They have been paying the loan begrudgingly and some have actually defaulted. In fact am told equity which was one of the most bullish in the run up to Safaricom IPO are facing the highest percentage of non-performing loans in this category.

Most of these friends promised themselves that the moment the share price only but covered their outstanding loans, they would cut their losses, sell, repay in full and take a 'boltish' flight. There were many other options for investment than Safaricom.

Well fate had it, the price started moving north inch by inch. Each day, my friends revised their sell by level. It moved from 3.50 to 4 bob with reasons that the interest must be covered. Then the limit was moved to 4.40, when the price hit 4.20 early this week, they conveniently revised their target to 5 bob and said should it ever touch the IPO price, they would surely sell. Well it did yesterday and all of a sudden the options had to be revised all over again. They are back to the proverbial drawing board and now the discussions are if and when the share price will ever hit 10 bob since at 10 bob, loans are fully covered, down payments for dream houses can be made, and the range rover can finally land!

But the other questions am being asked is what I feel about the 'greed' of the MPs from Rift Valley regarding the Mau. Well my thoughts are that Mr. Ruto and his friends have behaved as expected of any Kenyan politician. Any (Kenyan) politician who hasn't used this opportunity to gain some mileage in the Rift Valley is not worth his salt. What of Raila, will this affect his career? Well I don't know, the man always makes mind boggling blunders every time in his career and from each one of them he somehow comes out stronger. Every body saw the end of him when he merged his party with Nyayo. At the end of the day you can never tell what he has up his sleeves.

What About Kenya's Needs Jameni?

Last evening after watching two Kenyan men one Mr. Wathika and one Mr. Kutuny give their divergent views about the constitution and what they wanted of Kenya, I was grimly made acutely aware of what has gone wrong with our country. I was in fact reminded of how our one time progressive youth group was brought to its knees and eventual death some years back. The group had been founded by a brilliant young catholic Priest from England. Even though it was based on Catholic faith, he had actually taken into consideration all the issues that affected the youth including vocation, training,Sports and Culture, self employment, jobs , reproductive health and even horning of leadership skills. The group was to say the least what any young person would need especially in the difficult years of adolescence and post adolescence.

However for some strange reason, the young priest was suddenly recalled to England and was given higher responsibilities meaning he wasn't able to manage the group anymore. He had groomed a few people to lead us when he was gone but that was the beginning of the end. Almost everyone started scrambling for the resources that the group owned. Everyone wanted to be a leader, a trainer or even a facilitator of the many workshops that it held. (Even people who could hardly express themselves in English!) The issue was that no one was giving, everyone aimed at gaining. Every single person was focused on what they could get from the group and not what they could give. inevitably the movement collapsed.

What of Kenya? Every time you watch the news or listen to people its all about what these people must get. What those people have already gotten and how those others are unfair in distribution etc. What we should be asking is distribution of what? No one seems to be caring about Kenya and thats why they all talk of what they want OF Kenya and not what they want FOR Kenya.

Away from Kenyans and their demands, November sure does have great tidings for me. Somehow most people close to me were born in or closely around this month. starting from King Mswati, Higher Power, The Kilo Watt Man, Hawi and even my last born. Happy Birthday to you all and Happy November too!

..two steps back

That the it has taken Kenyans a real long time to write a constitution would not be news. In fact whole careers have been made and others destroyed because of the one thing called Katiba. Finally it has been apearing though that we are finaly having a general consensus on the supreme law of the land. However yesterday I was appalled to note that as part of the new law there were proposals to divide Kenya into regions. Well nothing wrong really about having regions instead of provinces. What shocked me was the criteria used. I saw the proposal is that those of us in Ugenya and those Migori will be in one region while those in Kuria (who are closeset to migori will be with those in Kisii district in one region! The whole of western province will also be one region in spite of its size and population. Its like taking two major steps back in terms of trying to get unity of purpose in this nation. Why would you divide the country on tribe basis if you wanted to unite it jameni?

Its KCPE Time

Today is when more than 750K children will be sitting for their first ever national exam. The rehearsals were done yesterday and when I had gone to buy my daughter her clip board, I found they were out of stock. Its the one time that parents go out of their way to make life as easy as possible for the candidates. Even if they are from Kavunyalalo primary school where kids learn under a tree, am sure the stones on which they sit would have to be made more bearable.

Actually nothing much has changed since I sat my own version exactly 20 years ago. they still shade the choices, carry with them 3 pencils (for 5 exams!) an eraser and a set. Bofa set has remained the most affordable brand but the quality has taken a thorough beating!

However cheating has gone a notch higher with kids employing all sorts of tricks. Maybe its coz they have seen from their parents and leaders the importance of short-cuts and quick wins. Its all about saving time.

And talking of saving time, last weekend I learnt that time was scarce even for courtship in the eastlands part of the city. vis

boy to girl: 'mazee yenyewe mimi nimekunice sikufichi na we pia use? useme. unanipa au hunipi? coz sitaki kukuwastia time ya? yako na mimi pia usiniwastia time ya? yangu'

But on the western part of the city also known in local lingo as 'kwa ma sources' (kwa wadosi aperently is old) vibe goes thus:

Boy to girl: I sooo wish you yaani, si we hook up and catch pints?

There you go no time for the long deliciously flowery letters we used to write themdays. Time is money!

But seriously, how on earth are those kids of Kavunyalalo who learn under trees against the wind and other elements supposed to compete with the ones in Makini?

A Frog Hoping Out into the Sun...

In my tongue they say that you can never meet a frog hoping out of the pond and into the open unless things are very bad whence he comes. In fact it was common when I was growing up in Masiro to take to your heels if you met a warty toad or frog hoping in a hurry to what seems like nowhere. There could be a snake! Problem was when it was in the open, it made an easy meal for a hawk up in the air.

And I thought of the same yesterday when the ever blissful Wako came out for the first time in my memory of him to defend himself against accusations of sleeping on the job and also deliberatively aiding the people of power and influence to perpetuate impunity. Many people say Wako is a brilliant lawyer which explains why his tirade yesterday against the mighty America was like a the frog hoping hurriedly to nowhere.

Some people have argued that you can eat, dine and be merry even if you didn't have a USA visa. After all like Isaac Ruto said Wako's office is not in New York. But thats not the point. The point is that its very difficult to perform your duties as a senior govt official without this Visa given that the moment you lose it, you also most likely lose Visas to most European countries. And since most of our governance is based on foreign support which basically implies foreign trips and so on. It means you cant travel for these overseas meetings which means your assistants who may not be decision makers have to represent you etc etc. That basicaly translates to you not performing the duties you were hired for.

My thinking is that denying an official visa is a way of firing the official on behalf of the President! And thats why Wako came out like a frog.

On another note, I couldn't help but notice that so far the US has already forced out 2 people they have always had problems with. A. ringera, and M. Ali. Wako is probably next because I don't see Kibaki backing him. The man will most likely not comment but Wako will also probably not get access to him which is his silent way of telling you to take a walk! Kibaki is the kind of sonko who cant bear firing anyone even if you were stepping on his toes but he will just silently ignore you or avoid eye contact!

Failing...To Succeed

Just after reading cracked's article on people who made their failure a personal success, I got home to news that one Ngangalito, the young man who stole the fame during the last tusker project fame show had actually got success and will be running his own show on the dynamic Citizen TV.

Its quite a shocker I must say. I disliked the boy from day one. I was fearing that he would do a Hemedi once again and I kept on wondering what EABL was trying to achieve with such non-talent's in the premier show. However as the days wore on, I started seeing the other side of Nganga. One trait that endeared him to everyone I guess was his never say die attitude. He took all criticism in his stride and added a warm smile to every apearance. Nganga probably knew what none of the contestants knew. That the show was not really about talent. Such shows are about viewaship since they are just another mega advertisement. Neither EABL nor Citizen will care if you choked as you sung as long as people are watching and drinking!

So much about Nganga and his Italians. Yesterday, I was rather taken aback watching one truly talented Usain Bolt jokinngly touch our president on the shoulders as his senior ministers looked on like kids. I felt bad. It didnt help that he was towering over the old man and patting his shoulders like those of a small boy who has been given candy.But we already agreed that you never look a gift horse (goat) in the mouth. So that too will pass.

Such gifts would not have been necessary if we were more proactive in managing our internal affairs. The Excellency would have protected our sovereignty by not standing in line to receive donations from a 23 year old '3rd Worlder'. But that would only have been posible if we shuned shortcuts to reaches.

Shotcuts like the ones used by teachers and students to get ahead and pass the national exams. All because they fear to fail in life while they should just be referring to Ngangalito above on how to succeed in spite of failure!

Villains and Psychos

A long lost Congolese journalist and Academic friend of mine has remembered me by way of an email. And that was very comforting and good of him after all these years of teaching at a UK varsity. The only discomforting thing is that he only remembered me as part of a large list of email recipients of a lewd forward. So I dont know whether to smile or frown.

And the forward is rather bizarre. It shows several worm eye-view pictures of the renown mutwashi dancer and musician Tshala Muana. My friend was criticising the singer for her appearance during the show.

The pictures reveal a very stylish Tshala, clad in a long flowing dress but not wearing any panties. And that was my friends bone of contention. He was angry that the musician was not showing good picture and of the DR Congo and was instead showing her 'goods' to the public. And I wondered who between Tshala Muana and the photojournalist who took the pictures has a problem. The musician could have decided to wear less undergarments due to her size (elle est un peu bien enveloppée) and vigorous dance to reduce on sweat for all I know! But looking at the angle from which the pictures were taken it was impossible to miss an upskirt on the dancer given she was on a raised platform. Am even wondering had the journalist obtained pictures of her undergarments, would it have been less worrisome? it still would have pointed to a sick person , going out of his way to catch details of the musician which were not for public consumption.

It just reminds me of similar pictures I have seen of other prominent personalities like Martha Karua, Amani and even Pasaris. All of them just showed me evidence of irresponsible and really very very sick journalists!!!