The AU must walk the talk

May 25^th is the African Liberation Day. The day honours the 1963 signing of the charter establishing the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and pledging solidarity for the total liberation of Africa.
This year is unique for Africa and also quite challenging as revolutions or demonstrations continue to claim leaders (Tunisia, Ivory Coast, and Egypt) as many countries celebrated their 50th independence anniversaries. The OAU was set up to finish the anti-colonial struggle of the 1960s and also unite Africa (see Kwame Nkrumah’s book, Africa must unite).
It was successful in the liberation of southern Africa from the racist settler regimes and former Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Angola and Mozambique. The organisation mobilised human and material resources across Africa in support of these struggles and also won diplomatic and political support internationally. OAU’s weaknesses should, therefore, not cloud some of its successes.
The charter signed in 1963 was a compromise between the radical ‘Casablanca’ states led by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Tubman of Liberia and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt who wanted Africa’s immediate political union, as opposed to conservative alliances represented by the group of states who found a credible spokesperson in Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania.
He was opposed to fast tracking African union and urged for functional unity (economic unity before political). Today the same debate as to whether to have regional blocks or a United States of Africa continues at the African Union.
The promised compromise on the charter also included an agreement that the borders inherited from colonialism remain inviolate, which was rather absurd. After a closer look, one finds that some of these countries were not really viable. The situation on the ground by that time probably dictated this, due to interstate conflicts.
Soon after, the OAU emerged as the most important ‘union’ or assembly of ‘dictators’ backed by personal armies and militias. Consequently, the organisation was unable to sanction any of its members like Idi Amin, who even became the chairman of the OAU in 1975, and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (DRC). This was because oppression of the African people by their own governments became “internal affairs” in which dictators had “sovereignty.”
The international environment of the cold war and emergence of neo-colonialism also constrained the various groups from achieving total unity. What mattered most then was whether regimes were “pro-east” or “pro west” and not their pan-African credentials.
The latter became victims of political and economic conspiracies as evidenced in the fate of Tom Mboya, Patrice Lumumba, Abdel Nasser, Ben Bella, Samora Machel and Thomas Sankara.
Today, the AU, although more or less a lame duck, has tried to push the voice of Africans in situations where leaders are stuck because they are still depending on handouts from their tormentors (colonial masters). They are operating in an environment in which their paymasters make resolutions at any time they wish, bring their military might to bear, all in the name of “saving the people.”
One would be amazed after calculating how many people die every day in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and now Libya at the hands of these ‘Big Brothers’, using their devilish UN, WTO, IMF and now the recently added ICC.
As we face these challenges, the African Union must walk the talk, call to order all the imperial leaders and create space for development. Perhaps one may ask how far the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) that came into force in 2002 has come. Despite all these hurdles, we have reason to look forward to the future with optimism.
The colonial threat has not vanished; it’s now promoted by so-called African elites who only copy and paste from London to Lusaka and Washington to Kampala. We must engage in research and new innovations and strengthen our capacity through regional blocs, and ultimately build a strong and viable African Union.
This will be in conformation of what Nkrumah once said: “Forward ever, backward never.”

Written by Stephen Asiimwe

Why Kenya is not Working

Kenya is not working

I watched with absolute dismay the investigative journalism reports on KTN last week, about the drugs underworld and the Kenyan connection. The report, dubbed the Untouchables, was quite heart rending, perplexing and at worst tear provoking. At first I found it so graphic to be real and quickly dismissed it as another product of some creative mind like those story tellers of yore, best known to us as wahenga, out to cause excitement and a little bit of entertainment to our otherwise boring and redundant news life. In fact, it is such kinds of stories that somewhat make award winning movies all over the world including the envied Hollywood. Top movies series such us CSI New York, 24 and the old school Derrick, Top Cops and the like intrinsically revolve around such kind of controversial topics. Anyway on watching the re-run of the second part of the report however, I was taken aback. You see at first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and listening to and rightly so because it isn’t everyday that you come across a movie, let alone a real life story of a man being forced to eat the brains of a dead friend by none other than the good old cops. The report unearthed how some mysterious deaths of certain individuals, such as those of Ibrahim Akasha and certain top police officers, took place and the hasty explanations given by the police for their killing. I saw the son of one of the slain top GSU officers narrating the father’s death and the preceding ordeal this faithful officer had to go through before meeting his painful demise, thanks to the police he all along knew as colleagues in the fight against crime and the Government which he served faithfully. My face was an avalanche of tears and deep pain and sorrow suddenly engulfed me. It is extremely worrying to hear that police officers can actually collude to commit such heinous crimes against their own colleagues and get away with it. What was even more annoying is to learn that the Police Commissioner issued a threat to sue the journalists behind the report. I am no forensic expert but I don’t think it takes any brains to see that the son to the deceased could not just falsify information about the events surrounding his father’s death which he witnessed first hand. What possible gain could he possibly derive by lying about his own father’s death as portrayed by the Police Chief who dismissed the report in its entirety? The manner, in which the boy systematically narrated the story of his father’s draconically unfathomable demise, appears so true to be dismissed by any right thinking Kenyan. At the very least I expected the Commissioner to even play to the gallery and visit the slain officers’ families, convey the belated messages of condolence from the police force and even promise to order the investigations of all the officers involved in this ugly incidences. I am not implying that the report carries the Gospel truth account of events surrounding the whole drug syndicate and the Kenyan connection, but it is certainly thought provoking and has some glaringly obvious truths in it which ought to disturb our collective conscience as a people and offer the best . It points to the porous system that is ours- desperately corrupt to the core and is driven squarely by greed. As a matter of interest, a former powerful Minister in the Kibaki regime is quoted in on camera, confessing that the drug trade in Kenya involves the very high and mighty in the land, people who are as it is, above the law and cannot be hounded in jail even for a night. These “untouchables” are the very people we entrust with our vision no wonder our Kenyan dream will remain ever elusive.  But these Untouchables are not our only problem; everywhere in our governance structure we see glaring evidence of neglect of duty, abuse of office and failure to take action to avert the cascade of catastrophes that bedevil our beloved Kenya, one after the other.

Crisis after Crisis

From the ages of Goldenberg and Anglo-leasing, all the way to the post election violence we see systematic structural and fundamental governance flaws, which epitomises the mediocrity with which the current administration operate. The system that presently drives Kenya, breeds corruption, ineptitude and deeply rooted avarice of a few individuals who can even sell this country to some willing drug barons, for a few billions of shillings. Our nation is currently rudderless in terms of development and all we hear about are unproductive politics of chest thumping and mudslinging instead of that of offering solutions. Currently we are battling the Al-Shabaab militia who have wrecked more than enough havoc to us, from the kidnappings of tourists to the hijacking of ships destined to our ports. All along someone slept on the job by allowing these thugs direct entry into our country to carry out their dirty business at will. It is only after the tourism sector was threatened, that we decided to act. But the Ministry of immigration is also to blame since certain reports indicate that people of questionable backgrounds queue to buy passports everyday at nyayo house. We are also in the midst of a lecturers’ strike coming in the wake of teachers’ strike and the workers’ strike at KNH. Surprisingly, this is not the first time these strikes are taking place. Ever since I was in primary school, some thirteen years ago, the teachers’ strikes were commonplace. To date no lasting deal has been reached. The shilling has also lost a significant percentage of its value to the detriment of the otherwise our survival tactics. Inflation is on the rise and fuel prices are once again up. It hurts that nobody, not even the people we are paying to do it, are offering any explanations to this sad tale which has become the norm.. The other pointer to our lack of leadership is the recent hunger that killed hundreds of innocent Kenyans, thanks to our Ministry for Special Programmes. It only took the intervention of majority of the poor Kenyans, to launch an initiative to save their colleagues. Just about that time, some horrendous deaths occurred in Sinai slums triggered by fuel leakage from the Kenya Pipeline storage tanks is also an example of this chain of tragedies that have inflicted our country in the recent past.  To date, nobody at KPC or the good Government of Kenya has resigned, sacked or arrested in connection to these deaths. Our roads continue to claim innocent lives thanks to the traffic police and Kibaki himself who has blatantly refused to reinstate one Michuki to the transport docket despite the good job he did to reign in order in that sector. I believe that it is the same forces of greed that have investments in the sector that have prevailed upon the President not to let Michuki serve again in that docket.  

You see the list is endless and the verdict is that no development can occur in such a bedlam we call home. A nation that is constantly in crisis cannot develop. Virtually every sector of our economy is scathed including the sports sector which has the potential to make several of the unemployed youths millionaires overnight. Sometimes back the Coca-Cola Company offered to rehabilitate the Nyayo Stadium and raise it to international standards but some minor misunderstanding caused the deal to be cancelled and the stadium remains a mess to date. I expected the new minister to have taken action by now, but he won’t.  

Finally, Ocampo has come calling to try and get some justice for the victims of the post election violence, and the government is crying foul citing some sovereignty nonsense. We are sovereign yes, but over 1000 people can not lose their lives, while some 600’000 get displaced from their homes and nobody is charged for it. It would be a gross travesty and miscarriage of justice. Somebody has to take responsibility and that is why The Hague is here.

In the meantime people are losing homes unnecessarily as their investments, savings of many years and loans go down to the bulldozers thanks to some corrupt elements in the Lands Ministry, who colluded with criminals to extort Kenyans who bought land in Syokamau. My heart bleeds painfully for Kenya, for the many jobless educated youths who can’t get jobs because they are from the wrong tribes or have no connections to secure them one. For instance, KRA recently recruited graduate trainees and the tribal factor at play in that intake is absolutely criminal. Some friend told me that some people they were in the same class with, and whom he is more qualified than were taken while he was left since those people were from certain tribes! Somebody should remind the HR team of KRA that the new constitution demands for fairness in distribution of all public appointments. It can no longer be a tribal affair. But what can one do if the Government can’t act, wont act? We can only hope that more investigative journalists, like Mohammed Ali, and more voices of reason like the fallen Prof. Maathai, will continue to unearth the ills inflicted on our country everyday by the greedy rulling elite. As the professor once said, that all of us in our small ways can do something that will bring positive change to the challenges that constantly bombard us. That is the only way to bring to an end this alacrity to corruption and evil our governance and our social systems. We must carry out a series of onslaughts on these forces that are hell-bent on making this country a citadel of impunity. All Kenyans must stand up and deal a cracking blow, to the monumental waste of resources hence prevent this nation from further decelerating to a permanent state of confusion. On the same breath, I challenge the movie makers in this nation to rise up to the occasion and tell this story to the rest of the world and for posterity.

The problem with Africa

Whenever the name Africa is mentioned in International circles it is quite often associated with all manner of ills. contemporary media from around the world more often than not depict the continent as a one hell of a conundrum often engulfed in confusion and reeling from one crisis to the other. The continent, well described as a dark continent is known globally as a place of perpetual hopelessness with an inherent inability to solve its own problems. This perception is what explains the presence of all manner of donors, charity workers and aid givers virtually in all sectors of life all over the continent. From Cairo in the north to Joharnesburg in the south, Nairobi in the east to Lagos in the west, you find desperate faces of a people so poor and unable to afford for themselves even the very basic of human needs that make life livable. Most governments have literally abandoned these segments of their populace to well wishers from across the world and other well to do people within the continet to come to their rescue. all manner of crises find safe haven in Africa, from diseases, to epidemics, wars, refugees, IDPs, militia groups, poverty, hunger, famine, starvation, corruption, ineptitude, impunity, tribalism, nepotism, bad governance, unemployment, debts...the list is simply endless!
Every other day on major news channels such as CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, people around the world witness real life pathetic situations in whhich Africans live. It is common knowledge, that atleast 50% of all Africans live below poverty line i.e live on less than one US dillar a day.
It is against this sad backdrop that i have decided to dedicate this blog to everyone with progressive ideas which can help move this continent forward. This forum welcomes positive contributions from all over that are workable and which may ensure real change since the begger approach our leaders employ have all but failed miserably since most of the cash end up in the wrong hands and selfish pockets who eat money meant for aid without blinking an eye.
In successive posts, I will continue dissecting this topic, "the problem with Africa"outlining in detail how exactly we got here  and some possible remedies.

Keep visiting.